NMDA oversees the operation of the Petroleum Standards Laboratory (PSL) located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. This facility analyzes all petroleum product samples collected by field staff for compliance with quality standards established in the Petroleum Products Standards Act.

State standards are generally those established by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). ASTM is a national organization with international representation of producers, users, and general interest members. Through consensus, this organization establishes national standards for product specification as well as testing apparatus and laboratory procedure.

Samples are collected weekly by all petroleum standards inspectors and shipped to the PSL for analysis via courier service. Each inspector routinely collects 21 samples per week. Turn around time for analysis is generally one to two days, at which time inspectors are notified of results. If problems are encountered, follow up investigations and samples may be required. Products not meeting state specifications must be corrected immediately or they will be placed off sale until corrections are made and verified by laboratory analysis.

The PSL is a state-of-the-art facility capable of analyzing in excess of 10,000 samples per year. Currently the laboratory is performing approximately 30,000 analyses on 8,000 samples per year. Violation rates are approximately 3 percent.

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