Arco Charged With Falsely Advertising Octane Levels

Oil giant Atlantic Richfield Co. has been charged by the Los Angeles city attorney with selling its highly touted EC-1 gasoline at lower than the advertised octane level.

The city attorney’s office has filed 15 counts of false and misleading advertising against the company, which markets its Arco products at about 700 stations in Southern California.

The charges are the result of test samples taken late last year from two San Fernando Valley service stations by the state Division of Standard Measurements. The octane level, marked on the pumps as 88, actually ranged from 86.8 to 87, according to court documents.

It is not a huge difference and only a misdemeanor offense, but Deputy City Atty. Don Cocek said it is important that what the public sees is what the public gets.

“From my perspective, most people buy gasoline based on the cost and the grade,” said Cocek, who is prosecuting the case. “If you can use a lower-octane gasoline and it costs you less, that’s what you are going to buy.”

“People should be able to rely on labels.”

Company officials were to be arraigned in Van Nuys Municipal Court on Wednesday, but Cocek asked for a delay to allow more time for negotiations with Atlantic Richfield on a possible settlement.

Atlantic Richfield spokeswoman Annie Reutinger said the mislabeling was “an honest mistake” caused by a defective comparison sample used to test gasoline batches at Arco refineries.

The state conducted the tests after a consumer complained that his car did not run well on EC-1. Cars receiving fuel with too low an octane level tend to stall and develop engine pings.

The tests were taken over a three-week period in December at stations in Reseda and Van Nuys.

Reutinger said it was impossible for the company to determine how much of the mislabeled gasoline was produced and distributed to Arco stations. She said that since the company was notified of the problem, it has switched to a more accurate testing system to check octane levels during production.

The charges are not unusual, according to Maria Hernandez, senior special investigator for the state division.

“We are constantly taking samples,” Hernandez said. “About 5% of them turn out to be below what the octane should be.”

If found guilty of the 15 charges, Atlantic Richfield officials and the owners of the gas stations could be fined up to $22,500 and sentenced to prison terms of up to 7 1/2 years.