Citgo says customers affected by Florida fuel contamination should file claims

Citgo customers should file claims if they think their vehicles were affected by a widespread fuel contamination in Florida, the company said Monday.

More than two dozen Citgo gas stations along the Gulf Coast may have received contaminated gas mixed with diesel fuel that could harm or disable engines, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said in an alert Sunday. Customers who purchased the gas after 10 a.m. Saturday may have been affected.

If someone bought fuel from one of the affected gas stations on or after Saturday, they can begin a claim at: www.citgo.com/contact-us.

Customers should fill out complaints under the “triclean gasoline quality guaranteed” dropdown option, the company said in a statement. It’s not clear how long responses to the claims might take. The company said it is committed to resolving each complaint as quickly as possible.

Florida officials also opened a hotline to receive complaints from people who believe they bought the bad fuel. People can call 1-800-435-7352 or make a complaint at fdacs.gov.

Citgo said it discovered contaminated gas at the Port Tampa Bay terminal on Saturday as a result of a “product routing issue” and immediately ordered a shutdown of the fuel “rack,” or pipeline, that was mixing the diesel fuel with gasoline.

Citgo distributors who lifted gasoline mixed with diesel fuel from the terminal between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. that day were notified and were asked to stop sales. The company is “currently coordinating efforts” to remove the product from the retail locations that received it, the spokesperson said.

At a Monday afternoon news conference in Largo, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he doesn’t expect the incident will have a major impact on the state’s fuel supply, and about 29 gas stations likely received the contaminated gas.

If a person filled their vehicle at one of the stations identified by Citgo, “Just beware: You may have ended up having a cross-contamination,” DeSantis said. “Maybe it’s just a little diesel, and it’ll get diluted. But if it was all diesel, that’s going to cause a problem.”

Some of the impacted stations have already had remediation, and others are going to be remediated through Monday and Tuesday, DeSantis said.

Citgo operates inside Port Tampa Bay, but privately owns the land it operates on, hires its own employees and conducts its operations independently, said port spokesperson Lisa Wolf-Chason.

Wolf-Chason told the Times on Monday that, despite Citgo’s fuel mix-up, the port still expects to have plenty of fuel to provide to customers as the region braces for the impacts of Tropical Storm Idalia, which is anticipated to become a major hurricane over the next two days before impacting Florida.

“We have plenty of fuel to weather the storm,” Wolf-Chason said.

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Citgo said the company is “committed to safe, reliable and responsible operations” and is conducting a “full investigation” into the incident.

The company has not yet responded to questions about details of the investigation.

The gas stations that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services identified as possibly receiving the contaminated fuel are:

Big Dan’s Car Wash: 39522 U.S. Highway 19 N, Tarpon Springs (A spokesperson for this location emailed the Times on Sunday night and said none of their fuel had contamination and that they expected to be cleared by the state by end of day Monday).

7-Eleven: 3437 U.S. Highway 19, Holiday

7-Eleven: 13411 Fish Hawk Blvd., Lithia

7-Eleven: 4325 Lee Blvd., Lehigh Acres

7-Eleven: 12750 South Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers

7-Eleven: 290 Lakeland Park Road, Lakeland

7-Eleven: 720 Chiquita Blvd., North Cape Coral

7-Eleven: 2604 Skyline Blvd., Cape Coral

7-Eleven: 940 S Broad St., Brooksville

7-Eleven: 1626 Meadow Road, Lehigh Acres

7-Eleven: 2401 James Redman Parkway, Plant City

7-Eleven: 601 Pine Island Road SW, Cape Coral

7-Eleven: 6050 Dean Dairy Road, Zephyrhills

7-Eleven: 714 Burnt Store Road, Cape Coral

BJ’s Wholesale: 1929 Pine Island Road NE, Cape Coral

BJ’s Wholesale: 9372 Ben C Pratt 6 Mile Cypress Parkway, Fort Myers

BJ’s Wholesale: 13585 NE 86th Path, Lady Lakes

Handy Foods Store #86: 21321 Palm Beach Blvd., Alva

Handy Foods Store #87: 3205 Lee Blvd., Lehigh Acres

Superday CITGO: 1595 S McCall Road, Port Charlotte

Bolton One LLC: 15434 U.S. Highway 19, Hudson

JHW #310 DBA Avenue CITGO: 11867 N Williams St., Dunnellon

AL Prime Daytona Beach: 1898 S Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach

Quick & Easy Stop: 4529 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota

Palmers Easy Stop: 903 Cattleman Road, Sarasota

Falkenburg CITGO: 5320 Falkenburg Road, Tampa

Choice Food & Gas: 310 N Central Ave., Umatilla

2K Express 5: 6202 N 40th St., Tampa

Perfection Station 5: 9931 N Florida Ave., Tampa

We want to hear from you if you believe you were affected by the gas contamination. Send an email to [email protected].