The authorization granted to Sentuo Oil Refinery, a Chinese company, to sell certain finished petroleum products on the market has been halted by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
Targeted specifically are certain petroleum products that have been finished (petrol), which are allegedly not up to industry standards.
The NPA claims that it acted last week after discovering through its investigations that Sentuo Oil Refinery had sold gasoline at a slightly higher price than what had been authorized.
The NPA’s response comes in response to claims made by the Institute of Energy Security (IES) and the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), two energy think tanks, that the authority permitted Sentuo Oil Refinery to sell some oil marketing companies subpar fuel, causing major engine damage.
Ubeidalah Saeed, the NPA’s Head of Quality Control, told Joy Business that the products didn’t match the necessary standards and specifications.
He clarified that the products in question do not meet the necessary specifications; rather, the situation is not one of unwholesome products.
“The pressure is two points higher than the maximum requirement, not because the products were unwholesome,” he emphasized.
He continued by saying that the fact that pressures are mixed at the OMCs and that this occasionally causes a delay in specification checking exacerbated the situation.
“This challenge arises from the co-mingling of products at the retail outlet, where there was low pressure at these service stations,” he stated.
He assured me that strict measures have been put in place to monitor the system and prevent such products from reaching the market.
“We have now reviewed the monitoring regime, and going forward, we will be counter-testing all the quality certificates that will be sent to NPA from Sentou Oil Refinery,” said the official.
