State Trading Organisation (STO) has stated that its fuel testing laboratory has significantly decreased the time spent on testing fuel samples.
Speaking to PSM News, Managing Director Hussain Amr said the laboratory tests an average of 27 samples per month and has greatly reduced the cost of testing. He highlighted the importance of having such a laboratory in the Maldives to test the fuel being imported by various companies.
Additionally, Amr said the laboratory has been a great convenience for Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), as previously fuel samples had to be transported and tested abroad and it would take three to four days to get the results back. He said that the STO laboratory has greatly cut the cost and time taken to test samples, as it now takes three hours to receive the results.
STO opened its fuel testing laboratory on March 1 at the STO Trade Centre. The laboratory is operated by Geo-Chem Middle East, a prominent company in product testing. The laboratory facilitates immediate testing of imported fuel and saves time spent on testing fuel samples from abroad. STO stated this would be especially beneficial in re-testing jet fuel shipments brought from abroad.
STO’s fuel testing laboratory is operated with the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation. It makes the laboratory an internationally recognised fuel testing laboratory.