The Production Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Ministry has endorsed a minor tender offering a 38,745-euro contract for the maintenance, repair and assessment of 24 stranded vans belonging to KEDAK, a mobile chemical processing service established to analyse fuel traded and in storage, on behalf of both the energy ministry and SDOE, the Financial Crimes Squad, as part of the overall effort to counter fuel tampering and smuggling.

The mobile chemical inspection unit’s vans have mostly sat idle over an extended period because of a lack of funds in recent years. Subsequently, the ministry has often turned to SEEPE, the Hellenic Petroleum Marketing Companies Association, for assistance. SEEPE has consistently agreed to contribute support by having free fuel supplied as a means of getting the KEDAK vans moving again.

This has helped occasionally get some of the KEDAK vans back on the job. Even so, a considerable number of the unit’s vans have not been able to return to the streets as a result of mechanical issues.

Besides calling for KEDAK’s chemical inspection work to be reactivated and intensified, SEEPE also wants the unit to be given greater authority. More specifically, SEEPE wants the chemical tests conducted by KEDAK on fuel samples to stand as final results, rather than requiring additional testing at the official Chemical State Laboratory for confirmation, as required by the current procedure.