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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Two major oil marketers, Duke Oil, the trading arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company ( NNPC) Limited and Oando Plc has said they were not culpable in the importation of adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which circulated in the country, recently.
The duo stated this, at an investigative hearing organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum ( Downstream), on Wednesday, in Abuja . The committee is investigating the circumstances surrounding the importation of the bad fuel into the country.
The Managing Director, Duke Oil, Lawal Sade told lawmakers that the PMS imported by his company was certified okay at both the Port of loading and the Port of discharge. However, Sade explained that hours later, the company was notified that the product had some particles, which made them quarantine the product.
He said: “Mr Chairman, yes, there was a delivery of cargo by Duke Oil like you have seen in the report and that cargo met up with the Nigerian spec as it is both at the loading and discharge ports. There was a confirmation by the regulator which is the new Nigerian midstream, downstream authority to discharge that cargo within the stipulated date.
” The cargo discharged and the vessel sailed. It was just after 24 hours of operation then, Duke Oil was notified by the NNPC that there was a complaint from some of their customers that the cargo has some particles
“So, Mr. Chairman, with the notification from PPMC/NNPC, Immediately, the management of Duke Oil authorised the NNPC not to evacuate the cargo any further and requested for a recertification. But it is important we reiterate the fact that the cargo has been certified by the midstream and then, there is a joint inspection, before the discharge and the specification provided in the contract with NNPC meet up the Nigerian specification.”
The Duke Oil boss maintained that the company was not only concerned about profit but is equally interested in the ” energy security of our great nation and we never compromise the quality of the product we supply to Nigeria and any other place we do business and we will always seek to maintain this positive position.
“And as a responsible government entity, we share the pains Nigerians have gone through as a result of the subsequent discovery and quarantine of the methanol blended PMS and subsequent hardship it caused to all of us. And what we did, Mr. Chairman, as a shareholder in NNPC, we partner with them to ensure that the quarantine process is taking place and then, as the supply of the last resort, we give back and ensure that there is continuous flow of petroleum products across the country.”
Similarly, Oando Plc, represented by Afanga Afanga, told the panel that the product they imported into the country met all the specification set by the relevant government agency.
“In line with our Direct Sale Direct Purchase contract with NNPC, on the 16th of January 2022, we delivered 90MT worth of PMS on board the Vessel MT Elka Apollon. It is important to note that this PMS cargo that was supplied met and was in line with all the Nigerian and DSDP contractual specifications.
“This was confirmed by the mandatory tests that were conducted at the loading port in Europe and before discharge in Nigeria by an independent NNPC quality inspectors and finally by agents of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority. It is on this basis that the cargo was certified and accepted for discharge by NNPC,” Affanga stated.
The chairman of the panel, Abdullahi Gaya, after the submissions by the two companies, said the committee will scrutinize the document presented to it by the duo and invite them again, if need be.
