Three drivers in Cairo experienced the same problem within a week: their cars broke down shortly after refuelling at different stations. Their accounts have added to mounting concern about fuel quality, particularly 95-octane gasoline.
Mohamed Zaki, a Cairo resident, was surprised when his car suddenly stopped not long after he filled up at a National Service Projects Organisation station on Al-Sharea Al-Gadid, near the Ring Road. A mechanic told him the fuel pump—the part that delivers gasoline to the engine—had burned out after overheating. Zaki replaced it, only for the problem to recur the following day. He had to clean the tank and replace the pump a second time in the same week, adding to his repair bill.
Ahmed Sabry reported a similar experience with his Mercedes C180. His sister had been driving it when it stopped after being filled with 95-octane fuel at a station in Madinaty. “They told me the pump had burned out because of the gasoline,” he says. He paid EGP 25,000 for the replacement part but did not lodge an official complaint, believing he would receive no compensation. He decided to stop using both his cars until the cause became clearer.
Haitham Mourad’s 2010 Skoda Octavia also broke down after he refuelled at a station in Gesr El-Suez rather than his usual one in Heliopolis. A mechanic found a damaged pump and a problem in the fuel system. Mourad says the mechanic compared the fuel’s effect to that of 80-octane gasoline. A colleague experienced the same fault that week.
These accounts raise questions about fuel sold at different stations and the sudden maintenance costs facing drivers. They do not, on their own, establish the chemical composition of the fuel or conclusively prove the cause of each breakdown.
In recent days, Facebook and X have carried growing numbers of personal accounts, photographs of damaged parts and demands for an official investigation. Many drivers link the failures to fuel quality.
Among the posts reviewed for this report, the earliest reports of suspected fuel-related breakdowns date to May 5, 2025, with intense discussion between May 5 and 11. Hashtags referring to “adulterated gasoline,” “adulterated gasoline in Egypt” and “car breakdowns caused by gasoline” circulated widely.
Most complaints came from Greater Cairo and Giza, but Zawia3 also documented accounts from Alexandria, Port Said and Qena. Drivers said cars or motorcycles failed after being filled with 92- or 95-octane fuel at different stations during the previous week.
Reported faults included damaged filters, fuel pumps and injectors, interrupted fuel delivery and repeated engine stalls. Drivers feared being stranded on highways or in isolated areas and having to pay for a tow truck as well as repairs.
The complaints emerged less than a month after another fuel-price increase. On April 11, 2025, 95-octane gasoline rose from EGP 17 to EGP 19 per litre, about 11.8%; 92-octane rose from EGP 15.25 to EGP 17.25, around 13.1%. Diesel increased by EGP 2 to EGP 15.50 per litre.
Fuel-pump prices rise as repair shops report more failures
About ten days ago, Ahmed Montasser, a mechanic who runs a workshop in Giza, began seeing unusually large numbers of cars with sudden faults. He repeatedly found damaged fuel-pump cores and what he described as abnormal carbon deposits, resembling damage he associated with using 80-octane fuel instead of 92 or 95.
Montasser says samples from some stations smelled unfamiliar and unpleasant, did not evaporate as he expected and left black residue on filters and pumps. He attributed this to the fuel’s composition, although these workshop observations were not laboratory tests. He also reported repeated stalling on a recently purchased motorcycle after its fuel passages became blocked, and said friends with motorcycles described similar problems.
“Because of the large number of breakdowns linked to gasoline, fuel-pump core prices have risen over the past week,” he tells Zawia3. For a 2021 Hyundai Tucson, he says, a lower-cost replacement rose from EGP 1,250 to EGP 1,500, while an imported version increased from EGP 2,000 to EGP 2,300. He also reports shortages of imported pumps and warns that deposits can impair engine performance over time.
Ahmed El-Sorougy, a sales official at a French car company operating in Egypt, says the company’s service centres recorded an unusual rise in fuel-pump sales over the preceding ten days. He associates the increase with the wave of breakdowns.
Egypt had approximately 10.41 million licensed vehicles at the end of 2024, up from 9.95 million at the end of 2023, an increase of 4.7%, according to figures publicised by the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre.
Station owners point to the supply chain
Ahmed Khaled, a businessman who owns a filling station in Zagazig, Sharqia, rejects suggestions that stations are responsible for adulterating the fuel. Gasoline, he says, arrives in tanker compartments filled at government depots and secured with lead seals.
“Does it make sense that all the owners of stations where affected drivers filled up agreed to adulterate the gasoline?” he asks. In his view, the stations are not to blame.
Hassan Nasr, head of the petroleum-products division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, likewise denies that stations or the roughly ten fuel-marketing companies supplying them caused the crisis by mixing gasoline with water, as some social-media and media accounts alleged.
Nasr argues that responsibility for any off-specification fuel lies with the refinery that released it and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. He points to the Petroleum Ministry’s acknowledgement of failed samples amid complaints covering May 4–10. He describes a regional refining and distribution network serving different areas, while noting that roughly half the official complaints were concentrated in Cairo.
He also argues that counterfeit or poor-quality replacement parts and drivers’ maintenance and refuelling habits have aggravated the problem. He considers deliberate mixing of gasoline grades at stations unlikely, citing the penalties involved, and expects the immediate crisis to subside as the affected batches are exhausted. These explanations remain his assessment rather than findings establishing the cause of every reported failure.
For context, figures reported in 2019 put the national filling-station network at 3,597. The National Petroleum Company’s institutional page listed 255 operating stations. These are figures from different reference points, not a single current census.
District figures reported for Cairo included 16 stations in Heliopolis, 19 in El-Nozha, 33 in East Nasr City, four in West Nasr City, three in El-Matariya and nine in Ain Shams.
Five samples failed testing
On Sunday, May 11, the Petroleum Ministry reported 870 complaints nationwide concerning gasoline quality between May 4 and 9. The daily totals were five on May 4, 139 on May 5, 189 on May 6, 134 on May 7, 269 on May 8 and 134 on May 9.
Cairo accounted for 429 complaints and Giza for 208, followed by Qalyubia with 50, Sharqia with 31, Alexandria with 29, Gharbia with 19, Menoufia with 18, Dakahlia and Minya with 12 each, Fayoum with ten and Ismailia with nine. Other governorates recorded few or no complaints.
The ministry said 807 samples had been analysed by teams from the petroleum and supply ministries and independent testing companies. Of these, 802 met specifications and five did not.
In its statement, the ministry identified two failed samples in Cairo and Qalyubia, one in the Alexandria petroleum region—which includes Alexandria, Kafr El-Sheikh, Beheira and Matrouh—and two in Upper Egypt, at El-Fashn in Beni Suef and in Qena. It reported no failed samples in the Suez petroleum region, covering Suez, the Red Sea and South Sinai.
The ministry announced additional quality-control procedures. Domestically refined fuel would not be released for consumption until samples had been tested at two laboratories and the results compared, instead of relying on a single laboratory. Imported gasoline would be sampled under independent supervision and tested at three laboratories.
It also announced checks before and after product transfers along the supply chain, with independent companies involved to support impartiality. The ministry pledged continued inspections, public updates and cooperation with the relevant authorities to hold anyone shown to have neglected quality requirements accountable.
The announcement followed a May 6 statement saying an emergency team had reviewed domestic and international supply sources, major storage depots and station samples. At that stage, the ministry said the certificates for imported gasoline unloaded at Suez and Alexandria between April 18 and May 3, and for locally produced shipments over the same period, showed compliance with Egyptian specifications.
It also said checks of intermediate depots supplying Greater Cairo and other governorates showed compliance. Internationally accredited companies had collected 116 samples from 42 stations across Greater Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, covering different areas and distributors; all had passed. Additional inspection committees were deployed, and further sulphur testing began on May 6.
Hossam Arafat, a petroleum-engineering professor and former head of the petroleum-products division, disputes the idea that widespread deliberate adulteration explains the sudden failures. He argues that a defective station supply would be expected to generate a much larger cluster of affected vehicles, given the volume sold and the speed at which tanks are replenished.
Arafat cites manufacturing defects, neglected maintenance, cheap replacement parts, running fuel tanks very low and inappropriate fuel choices as possible explanations. He also alleges that coordinated online activity seeks to damage the reputation of National Service Projects Organisation stations, particularly ChillOut. He provided no evidence in this report establishing that allegation.
He criticises the ministry’s statement for not identifying the precise defect in the failed samples or naming the stations and fuel grades involved, and considers it an attempt to calm public concern. His objections do not negate the ministry’s finding that five samples failed specifications.
What can—and cannot—be inferred from octane and maintenance?
Automotive-industry specialist Gamal Askar notes that Egypt sells gasoline labelled 80, 92 and 95. These numbers refer to octane rating. Technically, octane measures resistance to engine knock or premature combustion; it is not a direct measure of fuel purity or energy content.
Askar also discusses gasoline–ethanol blends used internationally. E10, for example, contains 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline. The existence of such approved blends does not establish that any particular sample sold in Egypt has been adulterated.
To investigate a suspected fuel-related failure, he recommends checking pump pressure at an authorised service centre and examining a fuel sample. Visible contamination may be a warning sign, but appearance alone cannot establish compliance or determine concentrations of substances such as sulphur or lead; that requires laboratory analysis.
Askar warns that poor-quality fuel can affect engine operation and damage filters, pumps, injectors and fuel-system components. Repairs can be expensive: he says replacement pumps for some Toyota models cost more than EGP 35,000. He argues that weak oversight permits quality problems, although the report does not contain comparative laboratory results proving a general difference between Egyptian and Gulf fuel.
Osama Aboulmagd, head of the car dealers’ association and deputy head of the automotive division at the Chamber of Commerce, also believes there is a fuel-quality problem. He cites complaints alleging excessive lead in 95-octane gasoline and the ministry’s acknowledgement of failed samples. The report, however, contains no laboratory evidence confirming excess lead in the cases described.
Aboulmagd says poor maintenance can worsen failures: neglected filters, inappropriate fuel and repeatedly driving with a nearly empty tank may aggravate fuel-system problems. The correct gasoline grade depends on the engine manufacturer’s requirements. It is not accurate to assume that 92-octane is unsuitable for every car manufactured from 2022 onward.
Nor do modern dashboard warning systems generally provide a direct measurement of gasoline’s octane rating. Detecting abnormal combustion is different from testing a fuel sample against its specification.
Parliamentary questions—and compensation capped at EGP 2,000
On the preceding Tuesday, MP Maha Abdel Nasser of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party submitted a parliamentary briefing request to the prime minister and the petroleum and supply ministers. She raised drivers’ growing complaints of sudden breakdowns, particularly fuel-pump failures, after refuelling at different stations.
She cited reports of oily traces and strong smells that had prompted fears about harmful additives or diluents. Despite the ministry’s initial denials, she argued, the accounts pointed to a problem requiring urgent investigation and exposed a gap between official reassurances and drivers’ experience.
The MP raised several forms of alleged malpractice circulating in public accounts: dilution with chemicals, mixing with oils or industrial solvents, selling lower-quality supplies as ordinary gasoline, and manipulating dispensing equipment so customers receive less than they pay for. These were matters she called on the authorities to investigate, not independently established findings for every station.
She demanded stronger inspections, regular sampling, transparent publication of test results and legal action against stations proven to sell adulterated fuel, including closure and referral of those responsible to prosecutors. She also called for quality certificates to accompany every shipment, with regular verification.
Abdel Nasser welcomes the ministry’s acknowledgement of failed samples but says the key questions remain unanswered: what caused the problem, how far did it spread, and how did the affected fuel reach consumers?
Speaking to Zawia3, she says the May 11 announcement was an important admission that a real problem existed, but it did not identify the responsible stations or brands or explain the underlying cause. Although the statement listed broad locations for failed samples, it did not provide enough detail to trace the affected supply. She asks what preventive action will now be taken, and why it was not already in place.
She also considers the announced compensation largely symbolic. Requiring an earlier official complaint, she warns, excludes many drivers who suffered damage but never reported it through the government system.
On Sunday, the ministry announced reimbursement equivalent to the certified invoice for replacing a fuel pump, capped at EGP 2,000. Eligibility was limited to people who submitted a complaint through hotline 16528 or the government complaints portal between May 4 and 10 concerning an incident in that same period.
Claimants would need documents proving ownership of the car and a certified invoice showing the pump replacement. The ministry said it would contact eligible complainants in turn.
For drivers facing bills such as Sabry’s EGP 25,000 replacement, the cap covers only a small fraction of the cost. Others may receive nothing because they did not file a complaint within the specified period or obtain the required invoice.
Acknowledging the five failed samples is a first step. Drivers and specialists are still demanding a clearer explanation, compensation proportionate to the losses, transparent testing and safeguards capable of preventing a repeat.
