Page 15 - DMEA Week 20 2020

DMEA FUELS DMEA
Official fuels have worse quality than illegal ones in Nigeria, claims report
NIGERIA
The official samples had a higher sulphur content than the official ones.
OFFICIAL gasoline and diesel imports into Nigeria have worse quality than supplies pro- duced at illegal refineries in the Niger Delta, a study by the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) claims.
The study compared official products that were legally imported into the country with unofficial products manufactured at basic refineries using oil siphoned off from pipe- lines. Last year it took 91 samples of diesel, gasoline and kerosene from fuel stations in Nigeria’s Rivers and Bayelsa states, and in its capital Lagos.
The intention was to use the official fuel sam- ples as a control, but SDN’s programmes director Calvin Laing said the results were “concerning.”
The unofficial diesel contained sulphur lev- els of 1,523 parts per million, while the official supplies held 2,004 ppm. A sample taken at the Oando station in Port Harcourt contained as much as 3,020 ppm.
Sulphur levels for gasoline were lower at 401 ppmforunofficialsamplesand429ppmforoffi- cial ones. In comparison, the EU has a sulphur limit for diesel and gasoline of 10 ppm.
With kerosene, once again official samples had a higher sulphur content of 813 per ppm, versus 759 ppm for unofficial volumes.
Nigeria sets a limit of 3,000 ppm for diesel and 1,000 ppm for gasoline, and there is no limit on the sulphur content in kerosene. New standards were announced in 2017 but were not enforced.
Fuel quality is difficult to control in Nigeria and there are numerous reports of blending, SDN’s Alexander Sewell said.
“Nigeria is exporting high-quality low-sul- phur crude and is importing low-quality high-sulphur fuel, which is likely to be a major contributor to air pollution in the Niger Delta and across Nigeria,” Sewell said.
All fuels – both official and unofficial – are poor performing and damaging to engines.
Unofficial diesel is preferred to official diesel, despite being more viscous, Sewell said, as it is perceived as lasting longer. The primary use of diesel is in trucks and large generators that need to run for a long time. As such, the unofficial sup- plies are seen as more cost-effective, he said.
Unofficial gasoline “tends to be of better [quality] than the official supplies, which is in line with consumer preferences.”
“[Unofficial] gasoline is viewed to be the most reliable by consumers, and producers of this fuel also boast that they can produce very good qual- itygasolineincomparisontootherfuels.”
The quality of the official kerosene is much better than illegal supplies, Sewell said. But it is in short supply and demand is high, and so the market tolerates the lower quality.
“Unofficial fuel is often blamed for air pol- lution in Port Harcourt, but that is not the full story,” Laing said. “This conveniently defers responsibility on to those working in the arti- sanal oil industry.”™
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