How adulterated fuel was imported to Nigeria and who imported it – Kyari

By Matthew Eloyi

Mele Kyari, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, detailed on Wednesday how ‘adulterated’ Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from Belgium sneaked into the country undetected and the firms that brought it in.

At a late-night briefing in Abuja, Mr Kyari discussed the issue that had resulted in a PMS scarcity and the creation of lineups in Abuja, Lagos, and several other states.

He disclosed that the PMS was smuggled into the country by four importers from Antwerp, Belgium, with quality inspectors failing to discover the high level of Methanol it contained both at the time of import in Belgium and upon arrival in Nigeria.

In his words, “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.”

The NNPC boss did not specify the date of import, but said the company learned of the matter in late January.

“On 20th January 2022, NNPC received a report from our quality inspector on the presence of emulsion particles in PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Antwerp-Belgium.

“NNPC investigation revealed the presence of Methanol in Four (4) PMS cargoes,” he said.

He listed the companies as MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, and Duke Oil.

MRS used the vessel, MT Bow Pioneer; Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium imported the product via the vessel MT Tom Hilde; Oando used the vessel MT Elka Apollon, while Duke Oil imported its PMS using MT Nord Gainer.

The NNPC GMD explained that the fact that the PMS contained Methanol was not detected by checks because the quality checks do not include checks for Methanol percentage.

He said, “Cargoes quality certificates issued at load port (Antwerp-Belgium) by AmSpec Belgium indicate 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.

“As a standard practice for all PMS import to Nigeria, the cargoes were equally certified by inspection agent appointed by the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has met Nigerian 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 and therefore the additive was not detected by our quality inspectors.”