…As NNPC boss assures fuel queues will vanish in few days
The chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Abdullahi Gaya has assured Nigerians that the committee will handle companies who imported methanol-blended premium motor spirit (PMS) into the country.
The chairman was responding to a question from one of the committee members in that regard.
Gaya said this during an engagement with the management of the NNPC organised by the committee on the current fuel situation in the country.
While briefing the committee, the NNPC group managing director (GMD), Mallam Mele Kyari explained that the situation resulted from the discovery of methanol in the PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria under the subsisting commercial contract operated by NNPC and its partners.
According to the CEO, the reason why tests did not reveal the presence of methanol was because Nigeria’s specifications do not include methanol.
“We are a law-abiding company. There is no way we could have known about the methanol. The only way we could have known was if our suppliers, in good faith, disclosed to us. In this instance, the discovery was made by our inspection agents who noticed the emulsification at the filling stations and brought it to our attention. Subsequent investigation revealed that the four cargoes which are all from the same source also contained methanol-blended PMS,” he added.
Kyari said the NNPC then moved swiftly to trace all the affected products and quarantine the same.
While assuring the committee and Nigerians that measures have been put in place to accelerate fuel supply and distribution in the country, the NNPC CEO said the company had placed significant orders of over a 2.1billion litres of methanol-free PMS to ensure the queues vanish in a few days.
He pledged that the NNPC will cooperate with the committee and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to get to the root of the matter.
The NNPC boss also expressed deep empathy with Nigerians on the current situation and assured them that adequate measures have been put in place to maintain supply sufficiency and prevent future occurrence.
