Three Shell affiliates reach settlements with U.S. EPA over fuel standards violations

Three companies affiliated with Shell—Deer Park Refining Limited partnership, Motiva Enterprises LLC and Equilon Enterprises LLC (which does business as Shell Oil Products US)—are alleged to have violated the provisions of the U.S. Clean Air Act that ensure the production, testing and sale of high-quality vehicle and engine fuels in the United States. To resolve the violations, the companies will pay a USD900,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Fuel standards established under the Clean Air Act play a major role in controlling harmful air pollution from vehicles and engines,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “If unchecked, these pollutants can seriously impair the air we breathe, especially during summer months when they can reach higher levels. This settlement makes clear that if companies fail to produce fuels that comply with federal standards, they will be held accountable.”

The specific allegations included mislabeling of diesel fuel at two gas stations in northern Virginia, selling more than 4.2 million gallons of gasoline exceeding a fuel standard for volatility, the distribution of about 700,000 gallons of gasoline from a New Jersey terminal that contained elevated levels of ethanol and failure to follow various protocols for sampling, testing, reporting and recordkeeping.

EPA’s investigation, as well as some self-reporting by Shell Oil Products and Motiva Enterprises LLC, discovered the violations.