PETROL NEWS
ARE YOU MANAGING YOUR FUEL CORRECTLY? To manage fuel inventory effectively and efficiently correct analysis and reporting needs to be easily accessible, writes Dan Armes, Founder, ServoPro. DAN ARMES Founder of ServoPro
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uel is the most expensive and high-risk product petrol stations offer, yet many fuel retailers fail to put a system in place to ensure that their investment is protected. Fuel is also one of the smallest profit margin products, so even small losses can have a big impact on the bottom line. Managing your wet stock (fuel) not only makes good business sense, but it also is a regulatory requirement in Australia to monitor Underground Petroleum Storage Systems (UPSS) for losses. It is illegal to allow or ignore contamination resulting from leaking or faulty UPSS. Loss monitoring has been mandatory for all new UPSS since 1st June 2008 and for old systems from 1st June 2009. Petroleum has toxic components such as toluene, xylene, benzene, and ethylbenzene that can cause serious risks to humans and the ecosystem if they are released into the environment. Any undetected fuel leak from a UPSS can pollute the petrol station’s surroundings including air, water, groundwater, and soil.
92 February/March 2022 | C&I | www.c-store.com.au
At ServoPro we always advise our members that they are far better off having a preventive approach to wet stock management. If a leak occurs from a UPSS, cleaning the contaminated surrounding (groundwater and soil) can cost anywhere from $100,000 to more than $1 million. The UPSS owner can suffer economic losses from wastage of the fuel and may be liable for third-party damages for nearby contaminated sites. It becomes business critical to involve a specialist in wet stock management to regularly monitor UPSS and detect any fuel leaks. Many petrol station operators don’t have any controls to record their site’s deliveries, dip readings and sales. As a result, you could be facing fuel loss without any alarm bells. While some petrol station owners prefer to do their own loss monitoring, at ServoPro we recommend the use of a third party for SIRA. These specialist companies use inventory data and statistically analyse it to report
