Nigeria's Oando says it did not import substandard gasoline

Oando said it supplied petrol which met Nigeria's import specification. [Courtesy]

Nigeria's Oando did not import poor quality petrol into the country, it said on Friday, in response to allegations by the state oil firm that it, along with three other firms, had supplied unusable methanol-blended fuel.

The West African country faces fuel shortages after gasoline was delivered with too high a content of methanol, which is a regular additive to gasoline in small amounts. Nigeria depends almost entirely on imports to meet its domestic gasoline needs.

Oando, with dual listing in Johannesburg said it supplied petrol which met Nigeria's import specification.

"Following media reports listing Oando as one of four importers that supplied methanol-blended premium motor spirits (PMS) into the country, we hereby state that Oando did not import and supply PMS that was adulterated or substandard," it said.

On Thursday, state oil firm NNPC Chief Executive Mele Kyari said the presence of high methanol quantities was detected in four cargoes in late January that originated from Litasco's terminal in Antwerp, Belgium. Litasco is the Swiss trading arm of Russia's Lukoil.

Kyari said the gasoline was imported by four companies - MRS Oil Nigeria, the Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U consortium, Oando and NNPC subsidiary Duke Oil.

Oando said that it was committed to working with the NNPC and the industry to identify the cause of the contamination.

Nigerian lawmakers have passed a motion asking NNPC to suspend and investigate the four firms while President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the suppliers be held accountable.

NNPC has said the country did not detect a higher-than-usual content of methanol in recent gasoline imports because it did not conduct tests for the additive.

Oando's rival MRS Oil Nigeria said on Wednesday it received unusable gasoline via NNPC which had been delivered by Litasco.

A Litasco spokeswoman declined to comment on MRS Oil Nigeria's allegation when approached by Reuters.