The Chief Executive Officer/ Group Managing Director of
NNPC, Mallam 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.
Kyari emphasized that all defaulting suppliers have been put
on notice for remedial actions and NNPC is
working with the Nigerian
Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA) to take further necessary
actions in line with subsisting regulations.
Providing a graphic chronicle of the unfortunate incident,
the NNPC 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 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
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.
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 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).
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