Lubricant blenders in Nigeria have expressed mixed feelings over the recent directive by the Nigerian authorities that only registered lube blenders will be allowed to import base oil into the country effective Oct. 1.
While hailing the new directive – which is partly aimed at finally ending unregistered blending in the country – as a step in the right direction, they noted that the directive can only be successfully carried out if the monitoring agencies are effective in their duties and live up to expectations.
However, the lube blenders said the proposed ban on sales of imported lubricants and sales of lubricants in bulk tanks effective Jan. 1 remain in contention.
Austin Okoro, southwest regional sales manager for A-Z Oil, a lube blending company with headquarters in the southeast town of Nnewi, told Lube Report yesterday that the latest directive is a positive sign.
“The directive that only registered blenders can import base oil is a good development for the industry,” he said. “This is clear evidence that the government is ready to tackle the problem [of substandard lubricants] headlong.”
Okoro said the directives success will depend on the ability of the monitoring agencies to do their job effectively.
The Nigerian government had announced the new directive on Sept. 9, in Abuja, the nation’s capital, during a meeting with stakeholders in the industry. Petroleum resources minister Rilwan Lukman, who handed down the directive, said it was in line with the government’s goal of sanitizing the downstream sector of the country’s oil and gas industry.
He also restated the government’s resolve to ban imported lubricants and sales of lubricants in bulk tanks in gas stations across the country from Jan. 1.
However, Lukman charged the countrys lubricant blenders with the responsibility of commencing upgrades of their facilities to meet the new challenges. He also mandated that the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency, Department of Petroleum Resources and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria collaborate with other relevant stakeholders for effective implementation of the new directives.
Florence Bolokor-Mohammed, spokesperson for the petroleum resources minister, said in a statement that “in making this policy, government was guided by the need to protect its citizens and the environment, because of the health and safety hazards caused by unwholesome disposing of used lubricants.” She also cited as other reasons “the need to check the sharp practice of adulteration of vegetable oil and general use of substandard lubricant with its attendant challenges to humans, plants and machinery.”
John Erinne, who coordinated a recent workshop organized by the Tribology Society of Nigeria and the Standards Organisation to find ways of tackling the influx of substandard lubricants into the country, gave kudos to the Nigerian government for the new directive.
Erinne, who is also the managing director of Matrix Petro-Chem Limited, told Lube Report that if the directive is well implemented, government officials will be able to monitor the importation of base oil into the country and determine who is responsible for adulteration.
Industry watchers are not surprised at the new directive. Last December stakeholders had formed a special task force, comprised of representatives of all the major blenders and the Standards Organisation officials, to tackle the problem.
They also recommended adoption of a strategy to ensure that base oil is sold in the future only to registered blenders who would in turn sell blended products to certified distributors and retailers. This strategy, according to the stakeholders, is what the government is now adopting.