API updates list of products displaying API Engine Oil Certification Marks without authorization

The American Petroleum Institute (API) has updated their website with several more oils that are using the API engine oil certification marks without authorization. There are five different brands currently listed, representing 12 different products.

The list started with one brand with six products in March. At this time, the only products on the list of unauthorized oils are being sold in the United States.

“API tries to focus on sampling licensed oils, but on occasion, our sample collectors and others find unlicensed oils that are displaying the API engine oil marks. We made the decision recently to take a more aggressive approach when we sample such oils,” says Kevin Ferrick, API’s senior manager for Engine Oil Licensing.

API works with a vendor who dispatches collectors into the marketplace to procure samples globally as part of its Aftermarket Audit Program (AMAP). The engine oils are purchased in the marketplace and tested to determine their physical, chemical, and performance properties. “We also test them against the specifications they claim to meet,” Ferrick says.

“If our collectors find an oil from outside the U.S. that API determines is counterfeit it will go on the list” as well, Ferrick adds.

API says it “will make every effort to contact the counterfeiters and demand that the products be recalled from the marketplace.”

“A marketer might place an API quality mark on its packaging because the marketer believes the oil is eligible for the mark. However, a marketer must prove to API through a stringent application process that its oil or oils meet API’s performance requirements,” Ferrick says.

Currently, there are more than 18,600 API licensed oils. Oils currently licensed by API can be found in the Directory of Licensees.