Ardova Plc (formerly Forte Oil) an indigenous downstream oil and gas company has revealed that it had 136 reported cases of car issues related to the contaminated fuel bottlenecks that recently brought the sector to a halt.
This was disclosed by the company’s CEO and MOMAN Chairman, Olumide Adeosun, in a press conference between stakeholders in the downstream sector and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
He added that downstream stakeholders are working to make sure operations continue with products that have not been contaminated.
What MOMAN Chairman is saying
Adeosun stated the meeting between stakeholders and the NMDPRA was called following a press release by authorities, confirming a certain amount of methanol had made its way to the supply chain of PMS.
He revealed that before the news of the contaminated fuel was public, MOMAN members “had been aware of this in the background, and our members have been working across the different stages making sure the products were segregated and did not make their way to the pool, and making sure goods in transit that had left the station did not get into tanks and making sure the goods already in tanks did not make its way to consumers engines”
“In some instances, we had about 136 reported cases of issues with cars and we addressed all of them,” he stated.
He assured Nigerian consumers that from his perspective the industry has identified the quantum of the problem.
He said that they have traced the source, the vessels that were discharged, the depots that the products were discharged into and even the stations that received the products. He said what MOMAN is trying to do now is to make sure operations can continue and the clean products are pushed to consumers.
“We want to reassure our customers that the volume of contaminated fuel we received has already been identified and recalled to prevent further sales at our pumps. Our affected stations are currently closed to customers for clean up, and only stations that have passed a quality inspection are open to customers,” he said.
What you should know
- In the last two weeks, some cities in the country were hit with long queues at filling stations caused by a scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
- It was later revealed that the shortage of fuel supply was caused by the due to the withdrawal of adulterated petrol by the sole importer of the product, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
- The Federal Government however moved to perform a major investigation to unravel the circumstance surrounding the importation and supply of adulterated fuel which contains unsafe quantity of methanol in the country.
- Following the investigations, the NNPC explained how the adulterated petrol was imported into Nigeria from Belgium undetected as well as the oil companies that brought it in.
- Nairametrics reported earlier that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has stated that Nigerians who purchased contaminated fuel have experienced technical difficulties and damage to their vehicles.
