Citgo Has Paid $864,735 in Claims Over Florida Fuel Contamination Incident -- OPIS

Citgo Petroleum has so far paid out $864,735 to motorists who have submitted claims related to the August distribution of contaminated fuel in Florida that impacted more than 2,000 customers.

The company said that as of Oct. 25 it has received information from 2,162 consumers with potential claims stemming from the incident. Citgo's claims management provider, ESIS, has responded to nearly all of the claimants and has so far closed out 2,001 of the claims. The money paid out went toward repairs or reimbursements, Citgo said in a statement to OPIS.

The company said it expects to close all the remaining claims soon.

"Although we have only received a small number of new complaints over the past several days, if we receive more going forward, we will continue to work with those consumers as well," the company said.

The incident began Aug. 26 as Hurricane Idalia was approaching Florida when fuel coming from the port of Tampa was contaminated due to a product routing issue at the Tampa terminal, the company said at the time.

Citgo said it immediately shut down the rack at its Tampa terminal after discovering the problem.

The terminal supplies fuel in the greater Tampa region, north to Chiefland and south to Naples, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said. Citgo estimated about 30 locations were impacted by the contaminated fuel.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Steve Cronin, [e-mail]; Editing by Michael Kelly, [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 31, 2023 11:16 ET (15:16 GMT)

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