Oil Marketer have insisted that Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, have both certify the imported Premium Motor Spirit, PMS popularly called petrol before they are sold to public. The marketers made the disclosure yesterday while responding to the Dangote claim that Petroleum Refinery that off-spec petroleum products were imported into the country by dealers.
On Tuesday the Dangote refinery informed Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited and other oil marketers that the deregulation of the downstream oil sector should not be exploited to the detriment for importation of sub-standard petroleum products or the undermining of Nigeria’s national interests.
However, the oil marketers yesterday denied the Dangote claim through the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, Robert Dickerman, where he revealed that his firm had signed a 13-year agreement with the Dangote refinery to distribute the refinery’s petroleum products through pipelines.
Dickerman insisted that with regulatory agencies like SON, NMDPRA in place, there is no way his company will import sub-standard product.
Although, punch confirmed from SON that they were actually involved in checking the product when imported, but did not say which laboratory they used in carrying out the analysis as claimed.
Recall Dangote had some month ago claimed he is the only company with a standard laboratory so far in Nigeria for testing parameters of PMS.
SON in a statement said, “Yes, We are involved in the testing of petroleum products when they come into the country. We are involved in that. We have our laboratory facility where these tests are conducted. It’s to ensure if the commodities meet regulatory standards or off-spec”.
Buttressing the testing claim, another major marketer who claims anonymity said, “I once told you what we went through when we brought in our imported cargo of petrol. The product underwent a lot of laboratory tests. I know the NMDPRA carries out tests on imported products. They took a sample of our recent import when it was still in the mother vessel at Atlas Cove before it was moved to Apapa.
“At the point of discharge, they took the sample again before allowing us to put it in our tanks. The NMDPRA has certified laboratories that they use. We have our laboratory but the NMDPRA will not allow you to do your test without them certifying the product by themselves.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos yesterday, Dickerman insisted that the clarification became necessary to debunk the statement from the Dangote refinery which accused Pinnacle of plans to blend substandard petrol in Nigeria.
Countering the claim, the Dangote refinery had also said the Pinnacle MD approached them, pleading with the refinery to extend pipelines to its tank farms in order to blend substandard imported petroleum products with its ‘high-quality’ ones.
However, Dickerman described the statement as defamatory, inaccurate, and intentionally misleading.
Putting the whole story in a clearer perspective, Dickerman revealed that yes it proposed and invested in pipelines to distribute petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery, saying as pipeline transfer is cheaper than distribution by ship or trucking across the country.
But when the project was proposed to Dangote, it wholeheartedly agreed and signed a 13-year interconnection agreement with Pinnacle Oil.
In his statement, “On November 5, Dangote issued a Press Release titled, ’Pinnacle Oil and Gas FZE: Our Stand’. It is unfortunate and deeply concerning that this release contained several statements that are defamatory, inaccurate and intentionally misleading. Further, it advocated a national policy that would cause severe economic damage to Nigerians by raising the cost of petrol above global market prices and higher than they are today.
“In our effort to further enhance distribution efficiency, we proposed and invested in pipelines to distribute petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery, as pipeline transfer is far less costly than distribution by ship or trucking across the country. When we proposed this project to Dangote, they wholeheartedly agreed and signed a 13-year interconnection agreement with us.
“In addition, Dangote facilitated our process of achieving regulatory approval by writing two Letters of No Objection to the regulator to enable our project to proceed. The agreement to allow us to interconnect our pipeline to them was agreed actually in 2022 and I think it was signed in early 2023. So it was about two years ago that we actually reached this agreement, and it was done very comprehensively, from a commercial and a legal standpoint,” Dickerman stated.
He added that since that time, a lot has happened between the two companies which include, the engineering design for the pipelines, surveying, getting the right of way, and letters of no objections from anyone who could be affected by the pipeline.
“There’s a whole bunch of stages to a project. This is not unlike any other construction project. It’s a very simple and straightforward process. This was done first. There was never a hint that this was not a good deal for both parties ever. So, it’s just not true that they opposed it. It’s simply not true that they opposed it. They supported it,“ the Pinnacle boss stated.
This is coming on the heel of as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has denied in a video clip that claimed the oil firm was selling dirty fuel from an NNPC Retail outlet at Keffi Flyover.
Spokesperson to NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye said “We have carried out spot checks at all our outlets and found this claim to be false. The product was not, and could not have been bought from any NNPC Retail outlet as the company does not dispense petroleum products into bottles or jerrycans as displayed in the video”.
The statement added, “NNPC Retail Ltd does not deal in adulterated products as it adheres to rigorous standards and quality control measures at every stage in its operations to ensure that only high quality, safe, and reliable petroleum products are available at its stations nationwide.
“Members of the public should discountenance the spurious claims made in the video and be wary of selfish and unpatriotic elements pushing such a narrative as they do not mean well for the country.”
