By Adedapo Adesanya
MRS Petroleum, one of the importers accused of importing adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) into the country, has appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Downstream sector and insisted that imported fuel is not adulterated.
MRS representative at the meeting insisted that all fuel imported into the country were not out of specification.
Earlier this month, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), following its investigation, revealed the presence of Methanol in four petrol cargoes allegedly imported by MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando and Duke Oil.
The NNPC asked oil trading firms to embark on an emergency supply of petrol to replace cargoes that were rejected because of their poor quality, but the country’s fuel supply chain remain disrupted.
NNPC maintained that cargoes’ quality certificates issued at the loading port in Belgium, by AmSpec Belgium, indicated that the product complied with Nigerian specifications.
Furthermore, it was disclosed that the NNPC quality inspectors including GMO, SGS, GeoChem and G&G conducted tests before discharge, which showed that the cargo also met the country’s standard.
NNPC had ordered the quarantine of all un-evacuated volumes of the contaminated fuel that led to the disruption of the petrol distribution value chain, in order to prevent further distribution.
NNPC also stressed that it was working with other stakeholders to resolve issues generated by the supply and discharge of methanol blended products in some Nigerian depots.
In its statement, MRS had stated that it remains a responsible corporate citizen and will not be involved in the purchase, importation, distribution or marketing of substandard petroleum products in the country, coming short of directly accusing the NNPC of complicity.
“Due to the current subsidy regime, NNPC is the sole supplier of all PMS in Nigeria. Consequently, the NNPC through their trading arm Duke Oil, supplied a cargo of PMS purchased from international trader Litasco and delivered it with Motor Tanker (MT) Nord Gainer. This vessel discharged in Apapa between the 24th and 30th of January, 2022,” it had alleged.
As one of the beneficiaries, MRS said it received the product in its depot and distributed the product to only eight of its stations in Lagos.
