CITGO Testing At-Pump Disposable Gloves in Pilot Program

HOUSTON — CITGO Petroleum Corp. is partnering with disposable glove company U-GLOVE to test a concept intended to make its gas pumps safer.

At CITGO’s Retail Concept Center in Houston, the company is offering U-GLOVE dispensers whereby consumers can place disposable gloves on their hands while pumping gas. Citing a Kimberly-Clark survey, CITGO stated that gloves are important as more than 70 percent of gas pump handles are “highly contaminated.”

CITGO’s pilot program represents the first national petroleum company to partner with U-GLOVE.

U-GLOVE was developed in 2014 by founder Antonio Lyon, who observed that sanitary gloves are commonplace at gas pumps in Europe. He brought the idea to the United States with a goal of preventing the transmission of germs and also avoiding the dirt, grease and fuel smell that comes from direct hand contact with the gas pump.

U-GLOVE is made from polyethylene and recyclable, according to CITGO.

Houston-based CITGO is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels. The company is owned by CITGO Holding Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela SA, the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.