By olusola Bello
Since Monday, last week, when it became obvious that trouble was brewing in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, marketers that are allegedly involved in oil supply scams have struggled to exonerate themselves in order not look bad in the eye of the public.
This has led to war of words between the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the oil marketers over who imported a destructive fuel into Nigeria.
Already the situation has resulted in artificial fuel scarcity currently ravaging the country and the attendant long queues at petrol stations, depressing traffic snarls, and hikes in transportation fares, among other unpleasant consequences.
When the news first broke out, major actors in the downstream sector were talking in hushed hushed tones with no one ready to say who the culprit was. But the bubble burst when it became clear that the vessel MT Nord Gainer discharged the fuel at MRS jetty in Lagos and people started pointing accusing finger at the company for bringing methanol blended fuel which could cause monumental damages to car engines, it was perhaps dawn on MRS management to come out with a public notice stating the role it played in the saga.
MRS in a public notice, stated: “It has come to the knowledge of MRS Oil Nigeria Plc (MRS or the Company) that “MRS” has been quoted, used speculatively on various social media platforms and in other national dailies as being solely responsible for the importation and distribution of substandard and contaminated Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) in the country.”
“We want to reassure the public and all relevant authorities, that “MRS” is a responsible corporate citizen and will not be involved in the purchase, importation, distribution or marketing of substandard petroleum products in Nigeria. It is therefore necessary that any Media, reporting this false information which has resulted in the defamation of the Company’s brand and image, must immediately refrain from doing so and endeavor to check the facts before printing unauthenticated information and statements, which would affect the goodwill of the Company and the investing public.”
The company said for this reason, the Management of MRS writes to inform the public of the facts which has resulted in product scarcity in the country.
It said: “Due to the current subsidy regime, NNPC is the sole supplier of all PMS in Nigeria. Consequently, NNPC through their trading arm Duke Oil, supplied a cargo of PMS purchased from international trader Litasco and delivered it with Motor Tanker (MT) Nord Gainer. “
“This vessel discharged in Apapa between the 24 and 30 of January 2022 and the following Major Marketers with receiving quantities were the recipients of the product: OVH 10,000 mt MRS 5,000 mt NIPCO 5,958 mt ARDOVA 6,000 mt TOTAL 10,000 mt As one of the beneficiaries, MRS received the product in its depot and distributed the product to only 8 of its stations in Lagos.”
Following delivery into the tanks, it was observed that the product appeared hazy and dark; Management immediately directed that further sale(s) should be stopped and the product isolated.
Urgent steps were taken to analyze the product to determine the basis for its contamination, the product analysis revealed that the PMS discharged by MT Nord Garnier had 20% methanol, which is an illegal substance in Nigeria.
As a Company, we are aware that alcohol/ethanol is not permitted to be mixed in PMS specification. We immediately informed NNPC, NMDPRA and MOMAN and it was confirmed that other Members had similar experiences.
Following this revelation by MRS, NNPC in what looks as if it is fighting back decided to split the beans by releasing names of the four companies that brought in methanol blended fuel.
While reassuring Nigerians that it would not lead to fuel scarcity, because it has the capacity to restore sanity in the supply and distribution of quality Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol across the country within a short period, the NNPC listed four companies that brought into the country fuel that are blended with methanol.
The companies are MRS which came with a vessel named MT Bow Pioneer, with LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium as it load port, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, the consortium came with MT Tom Hilde which loaded at LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium, Oando, MT Elka Apollon also from LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium and the fourth one, Duke Oil, a subsidiary of NNPC brought in MT Nord Gainer and from LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium.
According to a statement signed by Garba Deen Muhammed, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, the Chief Executive Officer/ Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari had pledged at the end of a meeting with some oil marketers to resolve the issues generated by the recent supply and discharge of methanol blended petrol in some Nigerian depots.
Kyari emphasized that all defaulting suppliers have been put on notice for remedial actions and NNPC is working with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA) to take further necessary actions in line with subsisting regulations.
Providing a graphic chronicle of the unfortunate incident, the NNPC CEO said that on 20th January 2022, the company received a report from its quality inspector on the presence of emulsion particles in PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Antwerp-Belgium.
He explained that the NNPC investigation revealed the presence of Methanol in four PMS cargoes imported by the following Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) suppliers as listed in the table below.
Importer Vessel Name Load Port
1 MRS — MT Bow Pioneer — LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium
2 Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium —- MT Tom Hilde —- LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium
3 Oando — MT Elka Apollon — LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium
4 Duke Oil —– MT Nord Gainer —-LITASCO Terminal, Antwerp-Belgium
‘He noted that cargoes quality certificates issued at load port (Antwerp-Belgium) by AmSpec Belgium indicated that the gasoline complied with Nigerian Specification.
Shortly after
Now sooner than NNPC released the name of the company that every one of them began to deny their involvement.
Onado Plc and Emadeb/Hyde/ Ay maikifi Consortium denied any complicity in the methanol blended fuel saga currently ravaging the country.
Oando plc in a statement denying any involvement in the importation saga, states: “Following media reports listing Oando as one of four importers that supplied methanol-blended Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) into the country, we hereby state that Oando did not import and supply PMS that was adulterated or substandard.”
“The PMS supplied by Oando met Nigeria’s import specification. We are committed to working assiduously with the NNPC and industry to identify the root cause(s) of the subsequent contamination of the PMS supplied. We want to assure the public that Oando as a responsible corporate citizen would not partake in the importation, distribution, or marketing of substandard petroleum products.”
In the same vein, Emadeb/Hyde/ Ay Maikifi Consortium has denied any complicity but alleged that one member of the consortium, Brittania – U which decided to go solo in the arrangement was the one that imported the fuel.
The consortium, Emadeb/Hyde Aymaikifi in a press statement stated that they are referring to the press release of February 9, 2022, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) on the issue of contaminated Premium Motor Spirit(PMS)with higher concentrates of methanol allegedly imported by Emadeb/Hyde/Ay Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium.
“We hereby state that the said importation of the contaminated PMS was executed by a member of the consortium, to wit: Brittania-U. Therefore the blanket claims made against the consortium by the NNPC are misleading and contradict the actual events that happened; they do not fully reflect and/or represent what transpired.”
“ It is important to inform the public of these facts and provide clarifications relating to the delivery of the said contaminated PMS to the country. We also deem it necessary to protect our image as we have invested a lot in building our respective brands in the industry.”
Britannia –U in response to the situation through a press statement, said: “The management of Brittania-U Nigeria Limited has exonerated the company from the ongoing controversy over off-spec Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), in the country, saying the consortium product that arrived and discharged during 4th to 19 January, 2022, through five daughter vessels, which were duly certified as meeting NNPC product specifications.
Brittania- U management is aware of the publication by the Emadeb/ Hyde/Aymaikifi consortium partners and while we do not want to join issues with these companies, we want to affirm that what they stated does not relate to the issues at hand
“Our imported products from our mother vessel MT TORM HILDE, met all NNPC/NMDPRA Product specifications and were duly cleared by DPR (now NMDPRA) in line with APPENDIX 1 of the NNPC-DSDP Agreement. All the PMS from our mother vessel MT TORM HILDE were discharged with all relevant certificates of quality after laboratory analysis as it was adjudged lead free, ethanol-free, water-free, suspended matter free, and had a sulphur content of 0.0174 as against 0.05, which is within the acceptable content allowable by Nigerian Midstream & Downstream Petroleum authorities. (refer to attached Appendix 1 NNPC PMS (Current Specification”
The question is, who will own up that really it was involved in the conspiracy against the Nigerian people.
