NNPC insists on due process in contract award
FROM the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has come a revelation that fuel retail outlets in the country have embarked on adulteration of petroleum products in their attempt to make cheap money.
Indeed, more than 60 per cent of the over 2,000 retail outlets in Nigeria have kerosene mixed with diesel up to about 77 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ((NNPC) has insisted that it would not be stampeded into taking action that is not in line with due process by any of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in the award of multimillion dollars oil and gas contracts.
SON, which revealed the adulteration of fuel yesterday in a survey it carried out and presented to stakeholders, said the illicit business has reached an alarming rate and therefore demands special attention.
A field study presented to stakeholders by its Head of Task Force on Petroleum Products, Timothy Abner, showed that out of the 21 fuel retail outlets in the South West, 15 had up to 69.1 per cent kerosene in diesel. In the Middle Belt, there was presence of kerosene of up to 77.1 per cent in the diesel tested, while in the South-South, there was kerosene of up to about 27 per cent.
Specifically, Abner disclosed that the diesel available in Enugu State was mostly adulterated with kerosene in all cases except for two stations. He noted that there was also increase of kerosene content in diesel in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Even the diesel in SON's power generating set showed kerosene presence of up to 77.1 per cent.
He added also that, "about six fuel adulteration points between Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have been uncovered." Meanwhile, a marketer at the stakeholders' forum accused Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC, of involvement in the sharp practices in the downstream sector.
The marketer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused PPMC of supplying adulterated fuel to marketers, saying: "On several occasions, we get adulterated product from PPMC and when we draw their attention to it, they tell us that if we reject the products, there are other marketers who will be willing to take them."
This allegation was denied by the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Osten Olorunsola, who said the PPMC cannot supply adulterated petroleum products.
He argued: "I will tell you that PPMC cannot do such thing, though we may not rule out adulteration of the products by individuals just to indict PPMC."
Olorunsola said that in the month of November, DPR sealed off a total of 96 petrol stations across the country for sharp practices ranging from under delivery of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), operating without DPR licence or with expired licences to compromising safety and over-pricing and diversion of PMS.
According to SON Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, the issue of adulteration of petroleum products has impacted negatively on the socio-economic life of the nation. He, therefore, disclosed the agency's intention to embarked on serious monitoring and sanctioning of perpetrators of the illegal business.
Also, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, the NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Fidel Pepple, said the agency would not be swayed into believing that its long-established rules translate to deliberately stalling the execution of some multibillion-dollar projects in the sector.
Pepple noted that while the industry's concern is normally expected in the process leading to the award of major Oil and Gas Projects, the NNPC would not abandon its long-held procedures.
According to him, the "NNPC has an established procedure of contract and project approval, which includes conduct of economic analysis to establish project viability and Federal Government's take from investments in the upstream."
This procedure, the NNPC explained, must be followed and IOCs cannot stampede the corporation into taking decisions that might be inimical to the progress of the nation because of their pecuniary interests.
