Gunvor Supplies More High Ethanol Petrol To Nigeria

GUNVOR International B.V, the recently banned supplier of 33,000 MT of petrol with high ethanol content delivered by Oando last month, has yet again been implicated in the supply of two other cargoes with high levels of ethanol delivered to buyers for distribution in Nigeria. Since the Oando incidence the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has stepped up vigilance to ensure that no PMS containing ethanol is delivered in Nigeria and as a result when the vessels, FT Freja Selinda and Lovell Sky both bearing 33,000 Mt of gasoline were discovered to contain 22% and 20% of ethanol respectively, they were prevented from discharging the products in the country. It was the DPR's testing that revealed the ethanol content as, the certificate of quality of the cargoes did not reflect the fact that ethanol was included in the product according to industry sources.The two vessels are currently off-shore Lagos. One of the importers of these cargoes, UK based Masfield confirmed that they had no knowledge of the level of ethanol content until it was rejected in Nigeria . Mrs Belema Osibodu, spokesperson for the DPR confirmed that though they are aware of the presence of such product and it has been stopped from gaining entry or circulation into the Nigerian market but it can not be confirmed as at press time if it actually came in through Gunvor or not.

Reports however has it that Masfield actually contracted to buy from Gunvor, Nigeria Grade Gasoline 90 RON. Gunvor on the other hand has supplied them petrol with 20% ethanol which is a biofuel and the existence of this level of ethanol was not reflected in the certificate of quality presented by Gunvor or in any other documentation received from them. The Nigerian market would have been infused with 99,000 MT of petrol with incredible levels of ethanol content had it not been for the intervention of the DPR. This would have led to another round of vehicular breakdown similar to what the nation witnessed at the beginning of the month. Subsequently, the Nigerian importers would have ended up being victims of the criminal intent. The presence of ethanol in petrol while not destructive in itself, however requires special handling when the limits exceed 10% and vehicle engines have to be modified to utilize such higher level fuels. Currently, the facilities in Nigeria can only comfortably handle 5% and storage and distribution facilities are being inspected to ascertain when the country will be able to utilize petrol with 10% ethanol. (E10).

Several industry experts who were contacted over the development confirmed that Ethanol is primarily a supplement to gasoline that is used to boost the octane level and that it meets the environmentally friendly requirements for oxygenated fuels, however 20% Ethanol content (E20) is well in excess of the normally acceptable limits of 5% in Europe, 10% in North America and most of South America and Asia. Brazil and parts of Canada , Sweden Thailand Columbia, Japan, Australia and the Philipines utilize E20 which is petrol with ethanol content of 20%. These countries constitute less than 5% of the countries in the world and have infrastructure, storage and dispensing facilities as well as vehicle engines specifically designed to contain this material. It is common knowledge that Nigeria is not one of these 9 countries and has only started developing its own ethanol programme in the last 4 years. Indication is that there seems to be a calculated attempt by Gunvor to make excess profit from Nigeria by supplying E20 for delivery into the country knowing fully well that ethanol does not form part of the published specification of Nigeria 's grade of gasoline and so not tested for. This act is being done irrespective of the issues of safety and damage that is associated with the supply of E20 in a country that is not prepared for it. However, several efforts to contact TPT international, the media representatives of Gunvor in Nigeria proved abortive as all calls put across to them was declined.

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