NNPC Blames Four Companies for Importation of Bad Fuel

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has accused four companies of having hands in the cargoes that brought Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) high in methanol into the country.

The Chief Executive Officer/Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, made this known during 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 explained that the NNPC investigation revealed the presence of methanol in four PMS cargoes imported by the following Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) suppliers as listed in the table below.

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

3 Oando — MT Elka Apollon — LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium

4 Duke Oil —– MT Nord Gainer —-LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium.

Mr Kyari emphasized that defaulting suppliers have been put on notice for remedial actions and NNPC was working with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA) to take necessary actions in line with subsisting regulations.

Providing a timeline of the unfortunate incident, the NNPC CEO said that on January 20, 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 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.

The oil agency reassured Nigerians of its capacity to restore sanity in the supply and distribution of quality (PMS) also known as petrol across the country within a short period while disclosing the identities of defaulting importers.

Mr Kyari noted that as a standard practice for all PMS imports to Nigeria, the said cargoes were equally certified by an 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 and our discharge ports in Nigeria do not include the test for Percent methanol content and 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).