The House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to suspend the four companies which recently imported adulterated fuel into the country.
The lawmakers also mandated its committee on petroleum downstream to investigate the release and sale of the off-spec Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol by filling stations across the country and to ensure the culprits are brought to book.
The lower legislative chamber gave the directive on Thursday following a motion of urgent public importance by the Chief Whip of the House, Mohammed Monguno.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari named the four companies that imported the petrol containing a high level of methanol as MRS, Oando, Duke Oil and a consortium of consisting Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U.
The circulation of the bad fuel imported from Antwerp, Belgium was subsequently halted by the NNPC, resulting in the current fuel scarcity being witnessed in parts of the country.
The lawmakers, during the plenary on Thursday expressed concern over the effect of the adulterated petrol on vehicles and how the cost of transportation, goods, and service has increased due to the scarcity of petrol.
Pointing out that the system is completely compromised, considering the processes which the fuel must go through before reaching the retain stations, the lawmakers urged that Nigerians whose vehicles and equipment were directly affected by the adulterated fuel be compensated.
The CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) Mr. Farouk Ahmed had said on Monday that the resurgence of scarcity and panic buying of fuel was due to excess methanol in some fuel.
He explained that methanol quantity above Nigeria’s specification was discovered in a supply chain, which was later isolated. This was corroborated by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva who also called for a thorough investigation into the matter.
But on Wednesday, Kyari revealed that the bad PMS was imported into the country by four importers from Antwerp in Belgium with quality inspectors failing to detect the high level of Methanol it contained, first at the point of import in Belgium and at the point of arrival in Nigeria.
Kyari said that the quality certificates issued at load port in Antwerp by AmSpec Belgium indicated that the petrol complied with Nigerian specifications.
He noted that the corporation received a report from its quality inspector on January 20, on the presence of emulsion particles in PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Antwerp.
“The NNPC quality inspectors including GMO, SGS, GeoChem and G&G conducted tests before discharge also showed that the gasoline met Nigerian specification,” Kyari said.
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 Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDRA).
NMDRA said while methanol is a “regular additive in petrol and usually blended in an acceptable quantity,” the levels in the four cargoes were higher than Nigeria’s specification.
“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 & therefore the additive was not detected by our quality inspectors,” Kyari said.
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.
Kyari said all defaulting suppliers have been put on notice for remedial actions and that NNPC and NMDRA will take further necessary actions in line with subsisting regulations.
In 2008, Oando Plc was sanctioned by the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) for importing petrol high in Ethanol into the country from Amsterdam.
Gunvor International BV, Amsterdam, Supplier of the PMS, had denied selling contaminated fuel to Oando Plc insisting that the product was certified and the load complied with all necessary and contractual specifications.
But Oando had maintained that the issue of high ethanol content was willfully concealed from it (Oando) by the supplier (Gunvor).