Nigeria may be thrown into an other round of petroleum product scarcity as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is set to shut down six major tank farms at Ibru Jetty in Lagos State.
The suspension threat came as a result NPA�s claims that safety level at the tank farms does not meet international safety procedures and regulations, with fear of high risk of explosion or fire outbreak in the facility. Ibru Jetty is home to dozens of tank farms where most of the premium motor spirit imported into the country is distributed to consumers.
A statement from NPA signed on behalf of its managing director by S. M. Danhassan reads: �…in the event of a fire outbreak at one of the tank farms there could be a major disaster as the fire fighting equipment at the jetty is inadequate and may be unable to contain the high temperature and pressure of an outbreak.
�We found that safety facilities in place at your depot appear to be seriously deficient for preventing or controlling major or minor accidents. The NPA tried to balance this against the likelihood of the related major accident hazards and the possible aftermath of such and found this to be frightening in reality,� Danhassan stated.
Reacting to this allegation at Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, station in Lagos, Krona Uti, team leader from Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) who witnessed responses from the company�s fire fighters and other state-of-art equipment while the tanks were under pressure, dismissed the NPA�s claim, stressing that the tank farms do not pose any threat.
He explained that it was the responsibility of DPR to shutdown any tank farm that does not meet the minimum safety standards, maintaining that in their assessment of the stations, it met the International Safety Guide for Oil Tankers and Terminal.
�I am impressed by the level of responses I saw at the tank farms. We have our men resident at the tank farms and if we discover any deficiency in the petroleum products brought by the operators, we will not allow them to discharge,� Uti explained.
On his part, Emmanuel Ihenacho, managing director of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, said it was not the function of the NPA to carry out safety audit inspection of tank farms, stressing that it was the responsibility of DPR.
�What the NPA is allowed by law to do is to make sure that they bring in vessels to the jetty and not inspection of tank farms. The whole idea is sabotage by one of the operators in the industry to ruin our businesses,� he stated.
Ihenacho said the current action against the tank farm operators were nothing but an inequitable action mounted by a coalition of key proponents of the discredited underwater pipelines project namely the NPA management and a major Ibafon resident product marketer who historically enjoyed political patronage at the presidency.
The managing director of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, Ifeanyi Ubah, whose tank farm is also short-listed for the clamp down, said NPA had never inspected their stations for the past 10 years, asking when they suddenly assumed such responsibility.
He wondered why only six tank farms were selected and not all, stressing that there was no equipment required by international standard that was lacking at their stations.