Economy
Contaminated petrol: NNPC lists MRS, Oando, Duke Oil, others as importers
OBINNA EZUGWU
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has listed MRS, Oando Plc, Duke Oil, among others, as importers of contaminated petrol into the country.
The Corporation in a press release on Thursday, an apparent response to an earlier press statement by MRS Oil stating that NNPC subsidiary, Duke Oil, imported the problematic petrol into country, promised to take remedial action against the listed defaulting importers.
“NNPC Ltd has reassured Nigerians of its capacity to restore sanity in the supply and distribution of quality PMS (petrol) across the country within a short period,” the statement by Garba Deen Muhammad, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC said.
According to Muhammad, the Chief Executive Officer/ Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, made the pledge at the end of a meeting with some oil marketers to resolve the issues generated by the recent supply and discharge of methanol blended petrol in some Nigerian depots.
He said Kyari emphasized that all defaulting suppliers have been put on notice for remedial actions and NNPC Ltd is working with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority to take further necessary actions in line with subsisting regulations.
Giving it’s own version of events, the statement said, “Providing a graphic chronicle of the unfortunate incident, the NNPC Ltd CEO said that on 20th January 2022, the company received a report from its quality inspector on the presence of emulsion particles in PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Antwerp-Belgium.
“He explained that NNPC Ltd investigation revealed the presence of Methanol in four PMS cargoes imported by the following Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) suppliers as listed below.
a. Importer—-Vessel Name—-(Load Port)
1. MRS——MT Bow Pioneer—-(LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium)
2. Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium—-MT Tom Hilde—- (LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium)
b. Importer—-Vessel Name—-(Load Port)
3. Oando—-MT Elka Apollon—-(LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium)
4. Duke Oil—-MT Nord Gainer—-(LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp, Belgium)”
According to Muhammad, Kyari noted that cargoes quality certificates issued at loadport (Antwerp-Belgium) by AmSpec Belgium indicated that the gasoline complied with Nigerian Specification.
“The NNPC quality inspectors including GMO, SGS, GeoChem and G&G conducted tests before discharge also showed that the gasoline met Nigerian specification,’’ he said.
Kyari noted that as a standard practice for all PMS import to Nigeria, the said cargoes were equally certified by inspection agent appointed by the NMDRA,
“It is important to note that the usual quality inspection protocol employed in both the load port in Belgium & our discharge ports in Nigeria do not include the test for Percent methanol content & therefore the additive was not detected by our quality inspectors’’ he stated.
However, in order to prevent the distribution of the petrol, the NNPC CEO said the company promptly ordered the quarantine of all un-evacuated volumes and the holding back of all the affected products in transit (both truck & marine).
