Fidelia Okafor

A vessel MT JAZI loaded with 1. 5 million of contaminated petroleum product has been seized by the management of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The product was being discharged at the Nakem Jetty, Kirikiri, Lagos.

Mr. Mordecai Ladan, Director, DPR who disclosed this in Lagos said the vessel was intercepted on Feb 11 while discharging at Nakam jetty.

Ladan, represented by Mr. Wole Akinmosoye, Zonal Operations Controllers, Lagos of  DPR said that after much investigations by DPR it was discovered that the vessel did not have DPR authorization to deliver product at the depot.

According to the director, We proceeded immediately to halt the discharge and fiscalised the tanks at Nakem depot, the sequel to which we discovered that the facility was stocking a total of 1.5 million litres of petroleum product suspected to be discharged by the 4 vessel.

“The vessel is still under the custody of the Nigerian Navy for more 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,’’ he said.

Ladan said that the agency has taken samples from the tanks at the facility for laboratory analyses, adding that it was confirmed that the product is actually off specification.

He said that the product, having failed all the basic parameters, especially in regards to lour, flashpoint and specific gravity.

The DPR director said that the product being dumped at Nakem does not meet the standard specifications of any white product.

He said that the depot has been sealed by the agency since February 12 and the vessel MT JAZI was under Nigerian Navy custody, 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 the depots across the nation and unloading of off-spec product in the facilities.

As we have always stressed, depot operators should be reminded that the agency will not tolerate landing of products of untraceable source at the depots, Ladan said.

The director said that the agency would continue to assiduously work to guarantee products integrity at the depots and forestall the flow of adulterated products into the retails outlets.

He, however, advised depot operators to adhere to the existing laws permitting vessel berthing and discharging operations between sunrise to sunset only and be guided accordingly.