NNPC investigation revealed the presence of Methanol in Four (4) PMS cargoes. It listed the companies as MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, and Duke Oil.
Oando Plc has on Thursday refuted the claim that it imported adulterated Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, into Nigeria.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, had on Wednesday, explained how ‘adulterated’ Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from Belgium got into the country undetected and the companies that brought it in.
Mr Kyari spoke about the problem which had led to PMS shortage and the emergence of queues in Abuja, Lagos, and several other states, at a late-night briefing in the nation’s capital.
The PMS, he said, had been imported into the country by four importers from Antwerp in Belgium with quality inspectors failing to detect the high level of Methanol it contained, first at the point of import in Belgium and at the point of arrival in Nigeria.
“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,” Kyari told journalists at the briefing.
The NNPC boss did not give the date of import but disclosed that the NNPC found out about the situation late in January.[story_link align="left"]104778[/story_link]
“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,” he said.
“NNPC investigation revealed the presence of Methanol in Four (4) PMS cargoes.”
He listed the companies as MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando, and Duke Oil.
However, Oando, in a statement released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday, noted that Oando did not import and supply PMS that was adulterated or substandard.
“Following media reports listing Oando as one of four importers that supplied methanol-blended Premium Motor Spirits 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.”