<p>MAIMANA (Pajhwok): A number of traders in northwestern Faryab province say a private company has blocked the entry of their hundreds of fuel tankers at Aqina port on the border with Turkmenistan.</p>
<p>The traders claim the Dubai-based company, Geo-Chem Middle East, has been operating against a presidential decree regarding commercial ports.</p>
<p>CEO-CHEM Middle East-<a href="/en/afghanistan" class="glossify-link">Afghanistan</a> is a largest international company in the field of testing and analyzing oilfields in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Headquartered in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company was founded in 1964 first in India and in 1999 in the UAE and it began work on June 26, 2013 in ports of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Based on documents received by Pajhwok Afghan News, the presidential decree issued on September 21 this year has asked the certain company to hand over oil testing labs at Hairatan port in Balkh province, Aqina port in Faryab and in Farah to the Afghanistan National Standards Authority.</p>
<p>Abdul Bashir, an official of Brothers Company, said the GEO-CHEM Middle East company had been contracted to test the quality of imported fuels at ports, but its contract expired two months ago, but still the company in collusion with local authorities was collecting $5 per ton of fuel.</p>
<p>“Currently, about one hundred gas tankers are stopped by the company at the customs port and zero point area on the Turkmenistan border. The company does not allow entry to fuel tankers into Afghanistan but those who pay bribes are allowed to enter,” he informed.</p>
<p>Bahir, a representative of the National Standards Authority, said they had been informed about the president’s order to take responsibility of testing the fuel from the GEO-CHEM Middle East company, but high officials had ordered the company to continue operating.</p>
<p>Ahmad Khalid, head of petroleum administration at the Aqina port, said more than 80 gas tankers remained stopped at the border due to problems between domestic companies and the Dubai-based company.</p>
<p>Pajhwok tried to contact GEO-CHEM Middle East Company officials for comment, but failed.</p>
<p>Pajhwok contacted the company’s chief operating officer Wajid Sherzai three times on Monday, but he said he would discuss the matter with the director.</p>
<p>According to the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry website, Geo-Chem Middle East chemists take samples, make necessary tests and certify quality of fuel per standards set by ANSA.</p>
<p>If the sample passes all the prescribed tests, the fuel is imported into Afghanistan.</p>
<p>sa/ma</p>
