By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says it has arrested a vessel, MT JAZI, loaded with 1.5 million litres of contaminated petrol.
Director, DPR, Mr. Mordecai Ladan, said the vessel was arrested while attempting to discharge its content at the Nakem Jetty, Kirikiri, Lagos.
Ladan, who was represented by the Zonal Operations Controller, Mr. Wole Akinmosoye, said that after a thorough investigations by DPR, it was discovered that the vessel did not possess DPR authorisation to deliver the product at the depot.
“When we got the tip-off, we proceeded immediately to halt the discharge and focalised the tanks at Nakem depot sequel to which we discovered that the facility stocked a total of 1.5 million litres of petroleum product suspected to be discharged by the vessel.
The vessel is still under the custody of the Nigerian Navy for detailed investigation. We wish to reiterate that DPR has no record of any product importation by Nakem.
“We also have no record of any throughput arrangement of the facility with a third party for product storage at the time of the arrest,’’ he said.
Ladan explained further that the agency subsequently took samples from the tanks at the facility for laboratory analyses, adding that upon completion of the analysis, it was discovered that the product was off specification having failed all the basic parameters of flashpoint and gravity.
He said the depot has been sealed off while the vessel, MT JAZI, is already in the custody of the Nigerian Navy, adding that the product would eventually be evacuated for quarantine by the appropriate government agency.
“We wish to use this medium to reiterate our position on zero tolerance to illegal activities in all depots across the country through the importation of substandard petroleum products.
“As we have always stressed, depots operators should be reminded that the agency will not tolerate dumping of untraceable products across all depots depots,’’ Ladan warned.
The Director said that the agency would continue to work assiduously to guarantee products’ integrity at the depots and forestall the influx of adulterated products into the markets.
He, however, advised depot operators to adhere strictly to the existing laws guiding vessel berthing and discharge from sunrise to sunset.