Fuel imports flow to Nigeria amid recall row

…Nigeria relies on a handful of global oil majors and European trade houses, as well as a growing number of Nigerian trading companies, to make up for a shortfall in domestic refinery capacity with supplies from European markets.

But late last month, as traders were putting in offers for the latest round of potentially lucrative fuel deliveries to the West African oil exporter, the industry regulator linked a spate of engine damage to one cargo of imported gasoline.


Officials at the Department of Petroleum Resources told Reuters it had ordered the supplier of the imported cargo, Oando Plc UNIP.LG to compensate motorists for the damage and take back 14,000 tonnes of fuel that had yet to be distributed.

ETHANOL AT ISSUE

The Department of Petroleum Resources linked the damage to the 20 percent ethanol content of the fuel. Nigeria recommends its suppliers blend no more than 5 percent, its officials said.

Oando, for its part, said it would sue Russian trade house Gunvor, which blended the cargo at its Amsterdam facilities, saying Gunvor concealed the ethanol content.

Reuters