No dirty fuel in Nigeria- NMDPRA counters Dangote Refinery’s claim

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, has asserted that there is no dirty fuel in circulation in Nigeria.

The Executive Director of Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha, disclosed this on Tuesday after a meeting with the oil marketers and local refiners at the headquarters of the NMDPRA in Abuja.

NMDPRA’s reaction comes amid a recent allegation by Dangote Refinery that it licensed importers to bring dirty fuel into the country.

DAILY POST reports that the Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin lamented that international oil companies are frustrating the full-scale commencement of the Dangote Refinery.

Edwin, said, dirty imported fuels are being purchased and dumped into the Nigerian market.

However, Ukoha explained that Heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, in 2020 endorsed a declaration adopting the Afri-5 fuel roadmap that requires that certain products have a minimum of 50 parts per million (ppm) litres of sulfur.

He said: “As an authority, what have we done since we came into being? We started by engendering compliance. We saw a downward trend up to December 2023. In December and January of this year, we noticed a spike in the sulfur contents of products being imported. And we again now began strong enforcement from 1 February.

“I am happy to tell Nigerians that up until as we speak in June, the average sulfur content in every Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) that is brought into Nigeria is far below what the 50 ppm provision is in the law.”