On Tuesday, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said it found methanol above national specifications in the imported gasoline. The regulator said efforts to remove the contaminated products from circulation caused long queues at many filling stations.

The federal government has already promised to deal with the companies that imported the fuel into the country.

Methanol, in small amounts, has been capped for a regular gasoline additive.

But damages have already been done to a few automobiles in Lagos due to the high content of methanol in the imported fuel.

At the end of the federal executive council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum, said the government would look into possible compensation for Nigerians whose automobiles had been damaged by the contaminated fuel.

But is this the first name Nigeria is facing contaminated fuel crises? The answer is NO.
Let's go down memory lane and have a look at previous scenarios.

FOUL FUEL — SANI ABACHA (1997)

In 1997, an offensive odour premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, was imported into Nigeria during the regime of late General Sani Abacha.

The PMS was “foul fuel”, and it damaged car engines and caused health hazards.

Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), distributed the noisome fuel across major cities despite alarm raised by two major marketers — Mobil Nigeria Plc and National Oil Plc.

The substandard fuel was reported to have been imported into the country by Abbey Court and Glencor.

PPMC later apologised for involving in the importation and distribution of the fuel.

BAD FUEL — UMAR MUSA YAR’ADUA (2008

In February 2008, Oando delivered 33,000 metric tons of gasoline imported from Gunvor International BV Amsterdam, a commodity trading firm in Switzerland.

After several reports of damaging vehicles, Oando said in a press statement that the fuel was contaminated with ethanol — after confirming with the supplier.

The defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) passed the product despite regulatory tests and checks at the port — but did not test for ethanol, which is not part of the specification of Nigeria grade for gasoline.

“We asked our suppliers what this material could be, and we were informed that it was ethanol for the first time. We asked for the samples at load port to be retested for the ethanol level and on the 29th of February 2008, we were given a result of 20%,” Oando had said in a statement.

“The fact that the product contained a high content of ethanol was not reflected in the original certificate of quality issued at the load port nor was it revealed to us by the supplier prior to the 28th of February 2008.”


OFF-SPEC — MUHAMMAD BUHARI (2022)

In January 2022, petroleum product with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification was imported into the country.

Mele Kyari, the group managing director of the NNPC Ltd, said the methanol-blended petrol was imported into the country by a few suppliers through four premium motor Spirit cargoes under its Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement.

The DSDP arrangement is part of strategies by the NNPC to ensure a sustained supply of petroleum products in the country.

Kyari said the DSDP suppliers include MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, Duke Oil, an NNPC subsidiary.

backbencher:
The only way to stop this is to refine fuel at home

And the only way to refine fuel at home is by incentivising it...by removing subsidies and allowing the market to control the price....

We refine fuel in bad refineries because refining them in standard refineries means we have to spend more on subsidizing the fuel. So, to keep subsidy costs low...we refine fuel the substandard way.

So, subsidy should go. If it had gone in 1993, the above three incidents won't have happened, but no, we chose cheap fuel over sensible advice.

Good evening

SAUCE

1.Fuel subsides in Nigeria, bad for the economy, lifeblood of politicians.

Omicron007:


This is very appauling!
The state owned oil company cannot refine our crude oil.
The company cannot manage the downstream sector too.
They are now shifting the goal post and throwing blame games here and there.

SarkinYarki:
Since I was born I have never come across premium petrol in Nigeria

Racoon:
Nigeria have come a long way with this nagging problem, but how come this NNPC under this regime claimed it's the sole importer of refined crude oil only for it to start blaming "MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, Duke Oil, and an NNPC subsidiary"?

NNPC may spend N201bn to clean 170.25m litres of dirty fuel

emi Asu, Okechukwu Nnodim, Leke Baiyewu and Stephen Angbulu
11 February 2022

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. may need an estimated N201 billion worth of clean Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), to bring 170.25 million litres of adulterated products imported into the country up to standard, an analysis of industry data has shown.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority had said on Tuesday that, for every 200 litres of the adulterated product, 800 litres of petrol with good quality would be required for the blending to be done.

“All the off-spec material (products) will be re-blended to very good quality, and it will be certified and recertified before it goes into the market. The component that was in excess was methanol; what we agreed was that for every 200 litres of the affected volume, we need about 800 litres to blend,” the Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, had said during a visit to some depots in Lagos, on Wednesday, after a meeting with industry stakeholders.

The regulator had on Tuesday, said a limited quantity of PMS with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification, was discovered in the supply chain.

On Wednesday, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, said the national oil firm received on January 20, 2022, a report from its quality inspector on the presence of emulsion particles in PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Antwerp-Belgium.

He said the NNPC investigation revealed the presence of methanol in four PMS cargoes imported by its DSDP (Direct Sale Direct Purchase) suppliers namely: MRS; Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium; Oando, and Duke Oil.

Under the DSDP scheme, selected overseas refiners, trading companies, and indigenous companies are allocated crude supplies in exchange for the delivery of an equal value of petrol and other refined products to the NNPC.

https://punchng.com/nnpc-may-spend-n201bn-to-clean-170-25m-litres-of-dirty-fuel/

backbencher:


Well, yeah, because landing cost of fuel is N282 and we sell that fuel at N163.

And we have to pay the cost of the losses from our crude oil revenue.

Also, the difference between the landing cost of fuel, and the cost at the pump keeps on growing and growing and growing.

And yes, it is because we all want cheap fuel

I hate PDP and APC, but if GEJ and now Buhari have flirted with the idea of removing fuel subsidy, and not only them, but all our leaders for several decades, something is up.

Same way we wrecked the old refinereis...by selling petrol at a loss, so that we can help the poor.

And yes, I put the blame on APC. That is no way to run the oil sector.

Thank you, and good evening. As far as I am concerend, the more we keep this subsidy, the more we lose out. For ten years, I have not supported subsidy retention.


If you want good quality fuel from NNPC, then privatise the thing as Atiku suggested in 2019, and allow them sell fuel at a profit, so that they have the money to fix things.

OR


Pay a tax, everyone pays a tax...from richest to beggar on the street, to raise enough income to fund subsides.

P.S Calling me an APC or PDP supporter, or excusing NNPC misses the point.

backbencher:


Well, yeah, because landing cost of fuel is N282 and we sell that fuel at N163.

And we have to pay the cost of the losses from our crude oil revenue.

Also, the difference between the landing cost of fuel, and the cost at the pump keeps on growing and growing and growing.

And yes, it is because we all want cheap fuel

I hate PDP and APC, but if GEJ and now Buhari have flirted with the idea of removing fuel subsidy, and not only them, but all our leaders for several decades, something is up.

Same way we wrecked the old refinereis...by selling petrol at a loss, so that we can help the poor.

And yes, I put the blame on APC. That is no way to run the oil sector.

Thank you, and good evening. As far as I am concerend, the more we keep this subsidy, the more we lose out. For ten years, I have not supported subsidy retention.


If you want good quality fuel from NNPC, then privatise the thing as Atiku suggested in 2019, and allow them sell fuel at a profit, so that they have the money to fix things.

OR


Pay a tax, everyone pays a tax...from richest to beggar on the street, to raise enough income to fund subsides.

P.S Calling me an APC or PDP supporter, or excusing NNPC misses the point.

backbencher:




I hate PDP and APC, but if GEJ and now Buhari have flirted with the idea of removing fuel subsidy, and not only them, but all our leaders for several decades, something is up.

tutudesz:
Oando was involved in both incident