The queues for petrol is on the increase in many parts of Abuja and neighbouring Nasarawa and Niger states as at Friday 11th February, and this is coming against the backdrop of two more oil firms denying involvement in the imports of adulterated PMS.
Also, oil marketers are currently lamenting the huge cost being incurred in the process of evacuating the contaminated products. They further revealed that there was no clear-cut directive yet on how to return the commodities.
It was observed on Friday that many filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory and neighbouring states were not dispensing petrol, as marketers claimed that some of the outlets had contaminated PMS, while others had no product to sell.
The few ones that dispensed the commodity were greeted with large queues of motorists, for instance, the Nipco filling station at the Kubwa end of the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway had hundreds of PMS seekers.
Major Oil filling stations on the airport road had heavy queues. The same scenario played out in front of the two filling stations opposite the Abuja headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The queues kept growing despite statements by NNPC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, that hundreds of millions of litres of petrol had been imported into the country to replace the adulterated products and keep the country wet.
Meanwhile, two more oil firms have come out to distance themselves from the adulterated fuel scandal. Joining MRS and Emadeb, two more oil firms, Oando and Brittania-U, came out on Friday to deny being involved in the contaminated fuel imports scandal.
In a statement issued by the Company Secretary, Oando Plc., Ayotola Jagun, the oil firm said, “Following media reports listing Oando as one of four importers that supplied methanol-blended PMS into the country, we hereby state that Oando did not import and supply PMS that was adulterated or substandard.
“The PMS supplied by Oando met Nigeria’s import specification. We are committed to working assiduously with the NNPC and the industry, to identify the root cause(s) of the subsequent contamination of the PMS supplied.
“We want to assure the public that Oando as a responsible corporate citizen would not partake in the importation, distribution, or marketing of substandard petroleum products.”
Also, Brittania-U Nigeria Limited distanced itself from the imports of adulterated fuel in a public notice issued on Friday.
It said, “The management of Brittania-U Nigeria Limited has exonerated the company from the ongoing controversy over off-spec PMS in the country.”
It added that “the consortium products that arrived and discharged during 4th and 19th January 2022, through daughter vessels, were duly certified as meeting NNPC product specifications.”
However, a senior NNPC official who spoke on condition of anonymity insisted that though the suppliers were appointed to import fuel on behalf of the NNPC, under a Direct Sale Direct Purchase arrangement, it might be difficult for them to exonerate themselves from taking responsibility for the off-spec PMS.
The NNPC official reasoned that the suppliers were quick to issue statements denying responsibility and culpability for fear of litigations that might arise as a result of the adulterated fuel crisis.