Fuel Scarcity: NNPC carry 300 million litres of petrol enta Nigeria to tackle scarcity wey withdrawal of bad fuel cause

Man wey dey put fuel from jerrycan inside im car.

Getty Images

Six vessels of petrol wey Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation NNPC order don arrive Nigeria.

Di vessels come wit 300 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit(Petrol).

Di Chief Executive Officer Nigeria Mainstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority Farouk Ahmed tok.

Dis na to close di gap wey di ‘bad’ fuel create as goment withdraw am from depots and filling stations.

Long queues still dey for some filling stations wey dey sell for Lagos and Abuja while odas dey under lock and keys.

NNPC tok how bad fuel take enta Nigeria

Di Group Managing Director of di Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, don explained how ‘bad’ fuel wey come from Belgium enta di kontri.

Di NNPC GMD also explain how fuel shortage and di long queues for Abuja Lagos and oda states happun.

According to Mr Kyari, dem import di bad fuel into di kontri by four importers from Antwerp inside Belgium.

E say even quality inspectors no fit detect di high level of Methanol wey dey inside di fuel.

Di first wey be di point of importation for Belgium and at di point of arrival for Nigeria.

“E dey important to note say di usual quality inspection protocol we dey use for di loading port for Belgium and our discharge ports for Nigeria no include di test for Percent methanol content naim make our quality inspectors no detect” e tok

Wen dem import dis bad fuel?

Di NNPC oga no tok di time, e no give date of import too but e tok say NNPC find out about di situation inside January ending.

“On 20th January 2022, NNPC received one report from our quality inspector wey show say emulsion particles dey inside di Petrol wey cargoes bring inside Nigeria fron Antwerp, Belgium” e tok

“NNPC investigation reveal say Methanol dey for Four Petrol cargoes.”

E say di companies na MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, and Duke Oil.

MRS use di vessel, MT Bow Pioneer; Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium import di product through di vessel MT Tom Hilde Oando use di vessel MT Elka Apollon, while Duke Oil import dia Petrol wit MT Nord Gainer.

Di NNPC Oga explain say methanol dey inside di Petrol sake of say methanol percentage checks no follow for dia quality checks.

“Di Cargoes quality certificates wey dem give for loading port (Antwerp-Belgium) by AmSpec Belgium show say di petrol comply wit Nigerian Specification.

“Di NNPC quality inspectors including GMO, SGS, GeoChem and G&G naim conduct di tests before discharge, e also show say di petrol meet Nigerian specification.

“As a standard practice for all petrol wey we dey import to Nigeria, di cargoes dem dey certified by inspection agent wey di Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority appoint and dem also say e meet Nigerian specification.

“E dey important to note say di usual quality inspection protocol wey we dey use for both di loading port for Belgium and our offloading ports for Nigeria no include di test for Percent methanol content naim make we no detect di additive”

Way forward

He assure Nigerians say di NNPC dey look for additional cargoes to meet di petrol demands for di kontri and “to stop di distribution of di petrol.

We don give order say make dem lock all di fuel wey dem neva distribute and make dem hold back all di products wey dey affected both di ones for truck and di ones for high sea.

Wetin go happun to di suppliers?

NNPC say dem don “put di pipo wey supply di bad fuel on notice for remedial actions”.

And “NNPC go work wit di authority to take further necessary actions wey dey in line wit di subsisting regulations”.

Meanwhile, di Minister of state petroleum , Timipre Sylva tok say dem go do major investigation to unravel di cause of di unsafe quantity of methanol for petrol wey dem carry enta di kontri.