If you are wondering why Nigerian motorists were recently encumbered with incessant vehicle breakdowns especially fuel pumps and diverse engine malfunctions on account of bad fuel (petrol and diesel), wonder no more.
\nOur undercover reporter has mined data and information from a tray of documents detailing how Matrix Energy, a relatively unknown company, has used contacts in NNPC Limited to ship low quality petroleum products from Malta and Russia into Nigeria and smiling to the bank at the expense of Nigerians.
\nThese imports were executed through intermediate ships and sometimes through intermediate companies like Poly Pro Trading registered in Dubai Free Trade Zone to avoid payment of taxes.
\nWith a 150 million litre capacity depot in Warri (Bluefin Depot), three old ships (Matrix Pride, Matrix Triumph, Matrix S.ILU), and about 500 trucks, Matrix enjoys the rare privilege of importing about 25 percent of petrol consumed in Nigeria through a network of top Nigerians who share the spoils after every shipment.
\nDocuments revealed that Matrix owned by one Abdulkabir Adisa Aliu has been very active in the nation\u2019s downstream market with imports of Russian products through various blending locations. Ship tracking data seen by our reporter showed how a consignment of bad fuel was shipped into Nigeria from Russia.
\nIn one of the shipments on May 26, 2024, the vessel “MT Kallos” loaded diesel from Novorossiysk, Russia. Diesel from Russia is typically off-spec (bad fuel) and is often corrected in places like Lome and Malta by blending with other components to reduce the Sulphur concentrate and ensure improved purity. But in this case, there was no correction done as the vessel immediately transloaded into Matrix ships immediately upon arrival at offshore Lome on June 16, 2024.
\nA total of 15,000 tons was transloaded into the vessel “Matrix Triumph” on 16th June which then discharged into Matrix Jetty in Warri on 21st June, the documents revealed.
\nAnother 15,000 tons was transloaded into the vessel “Matrix Pride” on 19th June which later discharged into Obat Oil terminal on 22nd June.
\nRecall that import of bad diesel by Matrix was confirmed during the visit of members of the House of Representatives to the Dangote Refinery when they bought and tested diesel from Matrix filling stations and found the Sulphur levels to be above 2,653ppm (vs. requirement of 50ppm) and the flash point to be 61 (vs. requirement of 66
\nAs Matrix was importing from Russia, it had its tentacles in Malta from where it also shipped into Nigeria sub-standard petroleum products which had dire consequences on vehicles and generators.
\nDocuments showed that in July, 2024 alone, over 200,000 tons of petrol from Malta were discharged into the Matrix Jetty. This represents about 25% of Nigeria\u2019s monthly PMS consumption allocated to a relatively small player with only 150 retail stations.
\nMalta has of late become the top European destination for blending and ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products ever since the Greek navy decided to stop such activities in their offshore zone.
\nAbout 35% of shipment into Malta is naphtha and other components which are blended into gasoline (petrol) to produce lower quality \u201cAfrican Spec.\u201d This lower quality spec is then tran-shipped into various vessels for delivery into Nigeria to be sold to unsuspecting public who suffer frequent vehicle and equipment breakdowns.
\nIn one of the transshipments, the vessel \u201cTwinkle Star\u201d loads from St. Petersburg on 20th March and transloads into the vessel \u201cNorthernlight\u201d at Malta on 22nd May which then proceeded to Lagos. The vessel \u201cMatrix Triumph\u201d then loads from Northernlight in Lagos and discharges into a depot in Warri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you are wondering why Nigerian motorists were recently encumbered with incessant vehicle breakdowns especially fuel pumps and diverse engine malfunctions on account of bad fuel (petrol and diesel), wonder…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n