The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), on Wednesday, continued with its investigation of the importation of adulterated petrol into Nigeria.
The committee grilled the remaining two of the four contractors engaged by the NNPC to supply the fuel.
Two of the suppliers, Oando and Duke Oil, while appearing before the committee at its investigative hearing in Abuja, denied culpability in the matter.
Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium and MRS Holdings had earlier appeared before the panel on Tuesday to also deny responsibility for the importation of the contaminated fuel.
The committee had last week grilled the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Melee Kyari; and the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, over the matter.
On Wednesday, the leader of the Oando team, Afanga Afanga, said the cargo supplied by the oil firm was tested and certified okay by the NNPC.
Afanga said, “It is important to note that this PMS cargo that was supplied met and was in line with all the Nigerian and the DSDP contractual specifications. This was confirmed by the mandatory tests that were conducted at the loading port in Europe and before discharge in Nigeria by an independent NNPC quality inspector and finally by agents of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority.
The Chairman of the committee, Abdullahi Gaya, while reacting, said, “We have not digested the documents but based on the summary you have given, I will allow members to ask questions. Then, in due course, we are going to invite you again to come and explain if there is a need for that, based on the documents that you brought.”
Also, the Managing Director, Duke Oil, Lawal Sade, said based on its subsisting contract with the NNPC, the engaged one of its registered counterpart and supplier, Sahara Energy Resources, and it was assigned a back-to-back contract for the supply of the Nigerian spec of PMS cargoes in an effort to fulfil the NNPC request.
Sade partly said, “Yes, there was a delivery of cargo by Duke Oil like you have seen in the report (submitted to the committee) and that cargo met up with the Nigerian spec, as it is both at the loading and discharge ports.
“There was a confirmation by the regulator, which is the new Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, to discharge that cargo within the stipulated date. The cargo was discharged and the vessel sailed.
In his submission, Gaya said, “We will go through the documents and if there is a need to call you, we will do that.”
