Off-spec petrol: We’ll ensure queues disappear from filling stations, says MOMAN

The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) says it will ensure that clean petrol is pushed to consumers to avoid scarcity.

The development followed the recall of off-spec petrol in circulation reported on Monday, which caused long queues in Lagos and Abuja as buyers waited long hours to fill their tanks. 

Olumide Adeosun, MOMAN chairman, said this while addressing journalists after meeting between the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and major stakeholders in Nigeria’s oil industry.

On Tuesday, NMDPRA had confirmed that petrol, with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification, was discovered in the supply chain.

MOMAN was established in 2001 as a MOC to represent the collective interests of the Nigerian petroleum industry and address the distribution/ allocation challenges amongst petroleum marketers.

“This meeting was called following the press release by the authority, confirming that a certain amount of methanol had made its way to the supply chain for PMS,” Adeosun said.

Adeosun said some activities had been happening in the background before the news broke. 

He said the association was at the forefront of the situation — recalling the off-spec petrol at three stages — so as not to make its way to the end-users. 

“We had been aware of it for a while and our members have been working across the three kinds of different stages across making sure that the product we receive in the tank was segregated and did not make its way into the pool, making sure that the goods in transit that have left the station, did not get into tanks at the station and making sure that the goods that were already in tanks at the station did not make their way to customers’ engines,” Adeosun said.

“For Ardova Plc, for instance, we had about 136 reported cases of issues with cars. We addressed all of them.

The chairman said the regulators responded to the situation by promptly pinpointing the problems and proferring solutions. 

“Where we are today as a country from my perspective, is that I think we have identified the quantum of the problem. We have traced it to source,” he added.  

“We know all the vessels that discharged, and we even know the depots that the products were discharged into and we are even aware of the stations. What we are trying to do now is to manage two things.

“One is to make sure that operations continue as normal. The worst thing that has happened to this country in quite a few years is seeing those queues build up again. 

“We are working assiduously to make sure that the clean products that we have given to our systems are pushed through to consumers immediately, obviously subject to all of the testings.”