Reps to verify volume, location of quarantined contaminated Petrol

The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) has disclosed that it will verify the claim that the high methanol content Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) had been quarantined after some of it caused havoc in the supply chain.

Chairman of the committee, Abdullahi Mahmoud Gaya, disclosed this after the appearance of the Managing Director (MD) of Duke Oil, Lawal Sade, and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Marketing, Oando, Efanya Efanya, and their teams before the committee Wednesday.

• Insecurity: Niger raises alarm over influx of illegal immigrants
• Gunmen kidnap bride-to-be, 5 others in Kaduna

This followed the claim by MD of Duke Oil who informed the committee that they had directed the quarantine of the PMS they brought into the country immediately after receiving complaints about the contamination.

Duke oil is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Plc engaged in oil trading in local and international oil markets.

Lawal said their cargo which was brought into the country January 7th, 2022, was delivered based on the subsisting contract terms and specifications.

He said: “Duke Oil has no prior knowledge and was not notified by the supplier via any communication about the presence of methanol in the cargo procured. And all known quality specifications at both load port and discharge port did not test for the presence of methanol until the cargo had been received by the NNPC.

“So, Mr Chairman, with the notification by the PPMC/NNPC, immediately the management of Duke Oil authorised PPMC not to evacuate the cargo and requested for a re-certification.

“But, it is important again to reiterate the fact that the cargo has been certified by the midstream and there was a joint inspection before the discharge. And the specifications provided in the contract with the NNPC met up with the Nigerian specifications, Mr Chairman.”

However, the chairman of the committee, Abdullahi Mahmoud Gaya, said: “If it is still there and it has not been utilised, we will confirm that.”

On his part, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Marketing said: “It is important to note that this PMS cargo we supplied met and complied with the Nigerian DSDP specifications.

“This was confirmed by mandatory tests conducted at the loading port in Europe and also before discharge in Nigeria by independent NNPC quality inspectors and finally by the agents of the midstream and downstream regulatory authorities.

“The most important thing at this juncture is to work with the NNPC in ensuring that what was brought into the country is what is needed, and ensure that the issues around the issue are alleviated for Nigerians”.