Dirty Petrol: MRS Denies Responsibility, Spills The Beans

By Uche Mbah

MRS, one of the companies named by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, of culpability in the scandalous importation of Dirty fuel into the country, has denied responsibility.

MRS was fingered, along with other companies, of being responsible for the importation  the toxic fuel.

But in a release, MRS put the blame  on the NNPC and its subsidiary, Duke Oil. It said the NNPC is the sole importer of fuel into the country due to the subsidy regime. The contaminated fuel was imported by the NNPC and distributed to companies through its subsidiary, Duke Oil.

Following is the statement from MRS.

“It has come to the knowledge of MRS Oil Nigeria Plc that ‘MRS’ has been quoted, used speculatively on various social media platforms and in other national dailies as being solely responsible for the importation and distribution of substandard and contaminated Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) in the country,” the statement said.

“We want to reassure the public and all relevant authorities, that ‘MRS’ is a responsible corporate citizen and will not be involved in the purchase, importation, distribution or marketing of substandard petroleum products in Nigeria.

“It is, therefore, necessary that any media, reporting this false information which has resulted in the defamation of the Company’s brand and image, must immediately refrain from doing so and endeavor to check the facts before printing unauthenticated information and statements, which would affect the goodwill of the Company and the investing public.

“For this reason, the Management of ‘MRS’ writes to inform the public of the facts which has resulted in product scarcity in the country.

“Due to current subsidy regime, NNPC is the sole supplier of all PMS in Nigeria. Consequently, NNPC through their trading arm, Duke Oil, supplied a cargo of PMS purchased from international trader Litasco and delivered it with Motor Tanker (MT) Nord Gainer.

“This vessel discharged in Apapa between January 24 and 30, 2022 and the following Major Marketers with receiving quantities were the recipients of the product:

OVH 10,000 mt;

MRS 5,000 mt;

NIPCO 5,958 mt;

ARDOVA 6,000 mt;

TOTAL 10,000 mt.

“As one of the beneficiaries, MRS received the product in its depot and distributed the product to only eight of its stations in Lagos. Following delivery into tank, it was observed that the product appeared hazy and dark; Management immediately directed that further sale(s) should be stopped and the product isolated. Urgent steps were taken to analyse the product to determine the basis for its contamination.

“The product analysis revealed that the PMS discharged by MT Nord Ganier had 20 per cent methanol, which is an illegal substance in Nigeria. As a company, we are aware that alcohol/ethanol is not permitted to be mixed in PMS specification. We immediately informed NNPC, NMDPRA and MOMAN and it was confirmed that other members had similar experiences.

“As at the time of this Press Release, ‘MRS’ had a total of 350,000 litres in tank at the eight stations; we await approval from NNPC and NMDPRA for the return of the product. The eight stations have been isolated, but there are other tanks within the stations, which will receive uncontaminated product for sale as soon as possible.

“In view of the above, ‘MRS’ will continue to work with NNPC and NMDPRA, for the evacuation of the contaminated product to NNPC, who is the sole supplier of the product. We are aware that NNPC has taken necessary steps to reject further imports of this product from Litasco /Duke Oil and/or any other trader, supplying fuels which contain ethanol/methanol into Nigeria.

“The allegation reported against the company that ‘MRS’ imported contaminated products, is therefore mischievous, false and untrue. ‘MRS’ is not an importer of this contaminated PMS into the country, nor does ‘MRS’ sell substandard products.

“We are by this press release, informing the media and general public that all products currently dispensed/sold out of all MRS stations (with the exception of the recent product received from NNPC), are on-spec and are of the highest quality.”

Industry sources insist the there is no way NNPC is going to extricate itself from culpability since they sre expected yo test the purity of fuel brought into the country.

” The test is done when the ship arrives, when it is offloaded and before distribution.”

A source said. “If they( NNPC) say they are probing the issue, it makes no sense. That is why independent investigation is required ?”.