The Nigerian National Company Limited, NNPC, yesterday stated that its investigation has revealed the presence of Methanol in four petrol cargoes imported by MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando and Duke Oil.
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, who disclosed this during a media briefing yesterday, however said he has since ordered the holding back of all the affected products in transit (both truck & marine).
It was also gathered yesterday that the NNPC has asked oil trading firms to embark on emergency supply of petrol to replace cargoes that were rejected because of their poor quality, Reuters quoted two sources as having disclosed yesterday.
Apparently disturbed by the development, the federal government yesterday ordered investigation into the bad fuel that had damaged the engines of some vehicles.
In addition to disrupting the country’s fuel supply chain, the product which led to the damage of several cars, the NNPC disclosed, was imported from Antwerp in Belgium.
Speaking in Abuja, Kyari argued that petrol brought into Nigeria usually does not include the test for the level of methanol content.
The NNPC helmsman maintained that cargoes’ quality certificates issued at the loading port in Belgium, by AmSpec Belgium, indicated that the product complied with Nigerian specification.
Kyari disclosed that the 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.
He stressed that the NNPC and other stakeholders were making serious efforts to resolve issues generated by the supply and discharge of methanol blended product in some Nigerian depots.
Kyari noted that the NNPC first received a report on January 20, 2022, from its quality inspector of the presence of “emulsion particles” in petrol cargoes shipped to Nigeria from the European country.
Briefing newsmen at Abuja, after the weekly virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said government had initiated moves to investigate the supply and circulation of adulterated petrol in the country. Sylva said the federal government wanted to get to the root of the matter, and warned against hasty conclusions.
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