A class action suit claims that gasoline is sold at higher temperatures than the international standard, where the volume is higher but energy produced is lower.
A class action suit worth NIS 1.4 billion was filed in the Tel Aviv District Court today against Israel's leading fuel companies: Paz Oil Company Ltd. (TASE:PZOL), Delek Israel Fuel Corporation Ltd. (TASE: DLKIS), Sonol Israel Ltd. and Dor Alon Energy in Israel (1988) Ltd. (TASE:DRAL). The suit claims that the companies have been systematically cheating consumers by selling gasoline at temperatures that are higher than the international standard and thus raising their profits by tens of millions of shekels annually.
Gasoline's volume expands when heated. The lawyers filing the suit explained that the fuel companies buy the gasoline at 15 degrees centigrade, the international standard, but sell it at higher temperatures, where the volume is thus higher but the amount of energy it generates is lower. In this way the companies increase their profits.
The class action suit says that the fuel companies achieve this by storing gasoline above ground so that it naturally heats up in Israel's warm climate. The suit claims that this practice is "unacceptable and bordering on the criminal."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 26, 2010
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