By Adeniyi Onifade
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it has completely recalled all the contaminated fuel in the domestic market with high methanol quantities that was discovered to have been imported into the country from Europe.
Quantities of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification was detected in Nigeria’s fuel supply chain recently. The withdrawal of large amount of the contaminated petrol across states, almost ran the country aground as fuel queues ripped through major cities across the country.
But speaking during the weekend in Lagos at an event to mark the retirement and birthday of immediate past Managing Director, National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO) Engr. Johnson Awoyomi, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC Mallam Mele Kyari said the NNPC remained in full control of the fuel challenge situation.
“The fuel challenges you are seeing today is within our control I can confirm this. We have taken out all the contaminated fuel that is on ground today, there is no further risk to the Nigerian population,” the GMD who joined the event virtually said, adding that though the situation was avoidable, NNPC was containing it.
The event which culminated in the launch of three books: The Cost of Fuel Scarcity in Nigeria; Maintaining Government Net Revenue in the Nigerian Oil, Gas & Energy Sector-Cost Engineering Perspective; and Cost Engineering and Cost Control of Medium to Large Capital Projects, all authored by Engr. Awoyomi brought together business and government leaders captains of industry and experts in the oil and gas industry.
Valuechain reports that the presence of contaminated petrol in Nigeria was last week confirmed by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The NMDPRA had announced that certain quantity of PMS with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification was discovered in the supply chain.
It said the contaminated product had been isolated, a development that led to a shortage in supply and triggered widespread scarcity of PMS nationwide.
“To ensure vehicular and equipment safety, the limited quantity of the impacted product has been isolated and withdrawn from the market, including the loaded trucks in transit,” the NMDPRA statement said.
The agency also noted that the “source supplier has been identified and further commercial and appropriate actions taken by the authority and the NNPC Ltd.”
