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The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State Council, has bemoaned the current absence of a licensed laboratory by the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
The association affirmed that such would kit many oil and gas marketers out of market.
The chairman of NOGASA, Sam Osung, in a statement on Friday said petroleum products intercepted by security agencies were subjected to analysis, which took days due to absence of a hydrocarbon laboratory.
While lamenting the situation and warning that it was capable of causing artificial scarcity and breakdown of industrial activities, Osung called on the government to urgently think about setting up a hydrocarbon laboratory in the state.
He said, “It is a sad reality that there’s no NMDPRA licensed laboratory in Akwa Ibom to aid and ensure speed in the investigation of quality by the security agencies. This I consider an unfortunate situation.
“The suppliers are losing their capital and running into debts; most of us are running out of business, and most industrial organisations halt their operations as a result of the delay in the supply of petroleum products.
“Security agencies will intercept products they feel should be subjected to parameter analysis, the analysis process takes days because we don’t have a hydrocarbon laboratory in the entire Akwa Ibom, so they send the sample to places like Port Harcourt, Enugu, and other places outside Akwa Ibom.”
“By the time the certificate of quality is out, the supplier has already lost his call out from the purchasing company, most of the parameters depreciate in quality, the quantity reduces as a result of evaporation, and the price eventually drops from maybe N1,500 to about N1,400, depending on foreign exchange and other factors regulating the price.”
