| Ethanol fuel
•Why international oil traders still accept
it
By LOUIS IBA
Saturday, April
12, 2008
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Long stretches
of queues of motorists waiting – sometimes endlessly
– to fuel their vehicles.
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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The scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the scourge of
Nigerian motorists, is back.
This time the issue at hand is the refusal of the Department
of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to allow the importation of blended
PMS, commonly called petrol, – with ethanol content
above five per cent – into the country by oil marketing
firms.
In the last six weeks, most filling stations across the country
have shut down owing to the scarcity of petroleum products
to sell to customers. In the few stations (with old stock)
where products are sold, the prices are usually at such prices
which triples the official regulated pump prices. And such
stations are usually characterized by long stretches of queues
of motorists waiting – sometimes endlessly – to
fuel their vehicles.
The DPR’s clampdown on importers of ethanol blended
petrol started after a petition by the Consumers Protection
Council (CPC) was received by the Department of Petroleum
resources (DPR) over complaints by motorists that petrol purchased
from some filling stations in Lagos had damaged carburetors
of their cars. The contaminated fuel was later discovered
by the DPR in the storage tanks of Oando Plc, an indigenous
petroleum marketing companies.
The hue and cry, by stakeholders, have been overwhelming with
the blame heaped on international oil traders importing petroleum
products for the major marketers and the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for bringing ethanol into the
country.
Ethanol blended petrol, is a biofuels, derived from sugarcane
or corn and is different from refined petrol – gotten
through the process of the fractional distillation of crude
oil in a refinery. Ethanol is produced by bacteria that ferment
and break down carbohydrate sugars, such as the starch from
corn. Humans have been fine-tuning this process for thousands
of years, although mainly to brew alcoholic beverages.
In the last couple of weeks, it has been projected in such
a manner that equates it with toxic fuel. But oil giant, ExxonMobil,
at a presentation of its ‘The Outlook for Energy: A
View to 2030’ in Lagos recently identified it as one
of the fastest growing source of alternative fuels in most
developed and developing nations of the world, especially
given the high cost of refined petroleum products.
According to ExxonMobil report, coal ranked first as the primary
source of energy supplies in the world, followed by natural
gas, nuclear and renewables such as hydro and biofuels, respectively.
“Renewables are projected to increase at 1.5 per cent
per year on average to 2030; this includes a mix of fuels
such as biomass, wood, charcoal, dung, wind, solar, and biofuels,”
said ExxonMobil’s Manager, Economic Planning, Mr. Scott
Naumann, who presented the report.
“Biofuels supplies, primarily ethanol from corn and
sugar cane, are likely to increase to about 3million barrels
of oil per day; biofuel production is growing rapidly and
supplies are likely to meet less than three per cent of global
liquids demand in 2030,” Naumann said.
This indeed, makes ethanol fuel, an alternative source of
energy that should be courted by Nigerians, if it is to effectively
cater for its future energy requirements.
And corroborating the ExxonMobil report, was the pronouncement
by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) at a recent
workshop in Lagos that ethanol fuel is good and reliable for
firing of automobile engines in Nigeria.
The history of ethanol fuel in Nigeria could be traced to
2004 when the federal government launched the ethanol fuel
programme with the aim of reducing pollution in the environment
by fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are also responsible for the
release of poisonous gases like carbon dioxide and sulphur
monoxide to the atmosphere. The programme, which was spearheaded
by NNPC, had a target deadline of December 2006 to ensure
the full utilization of ethanol fuel as a source of energy
in Nigeria.
The NNPC had also targeted the blending of 10 per cent ethanol
with 90 per cent petrol. The realization of this target, was
also to enable Nigeria satisfy the Kyoto Protocol - reduce
environmental pollution.
Government also targeted eliminating the scarcity perennial
scarcity of fuel usually linked to the over dependency on
refined petrol.
Ethanol as a preferred fuel
According to the ExxonMobil manager, ethanol fuel business
is big business churning out billions of dollars to investors.
“Globally, there is an increase in the use of ethanol
fuel and this means big business; big business attracting
billions of dollars for industries involved in it,”
Naumann said.
Undoubtedly, if properly harnessed, the use of ethanol fuel
in Nigeria would boost the revenue earnings of farmers of
corn, rice, and sugarcane, which are the major feedstock for
ethanol fuel.
Besides, it would create employment and stem the problem of
unemployment in the country.
In Brazil, Thailand and Canada, ethanol fuel account for 30
per cent of a litre of petrol. In the case of Brazil, the
use of sugar cane for production of ethanol is generating
huge revenue for the country while neighbouring countries
have also made huge investment in sugarcane plantations so
they could to export to Brazil, making huge profits in the
process.
Brazil plans to convert all its cars and gas pumps to run
on a 96 per cent ethanol fuel produced from sugarcane. Studies
made by experts in Minnesota, United States of America also
revealed that the application of ethanol fuel in cars also
prolong its lifespan as it is cleaner and friendly to the
environment.
Daniel Kammen of the University of California, Berkeley said
that it is better to use ethanol in cars than to use the gasoline
and fossil fuels directly. According to him, in the United
States, some 5 million of the cars and trucks on the road
in the United States can run either on traditional gasoline
or E85, a mix of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline.
"The people who are saying ethanol is bad are just plain
wrong,” Kammen said
Major issues
The control mechanism in the supply chain of petroleum products
in Nigeria have severally been criticized as a result of unsafe
practices by operators in the industry. For instance, it is
common to see trucks loaded with petrol for bridging to other
states parked along the expressway in the night. Some of the
tanker drivers have also developed market for siphoning petrol
along their routes to filling stations where the product is
destined for delivery.
Some of the operators of generators especially have found
it easy to purchase large volumes of petrol and diesel at
cheaper prices below the official pump price in parking lots
of trucks in any of the express roads in the country. In this
case, the driver of the truck must find a way to ensure replacement
of volume siphoned before getting to the designated filling
station. Equally, in the last two years, the Lagos State Environmental
Task Force has arrested several peddlers of gasoline in drums
under the bridge of Apapa at Ijora Seven-Up in Lagos. The
spot has been serving some tanker drivers for illegal transfer
of products from 30,000 litres (l) large trucks to smaller
trucks for decades. Sometimes ago, marketers were also directed
by the DPR to carry out proper awareness campaign on the importance
of compliance with the health safety and environment (HSE)
standard in the storage and distribution of petroleum products.
As a follow up to the directive, some petroleum marketers
have been able to stop tanker drivers from using a truck initially
used to lift PMS to lift diesel. There are several other violation
of HSE standard taking place in the distribution of petroleum
product, which the regulatory agency and marketers cannot
discover except there is proper education of those perpetrating
the acts on its effects and dangers on the environment.
For instance, Saturday Sun, learnt that the recent case of
contaminated ethanol fuel could have been caused by the carelessness
of the marketer who allowed water to gain access into the
fuel.
“If water enters refined petrol it does not contaminate
it because the petrol will float and you can keep dispensing
it and it will not affect the engines of vehicles,”
an expert told Saturday Sun. “But with ethanol blended
fuel, you have to be very careful because ethanol is as simple
as your alcohol and if water gains access to it the two mix
very well and so the ethanol fuel stands the risks of being
contaminated and destroying the engines of vehicles.”
Also, investigation carried out shows that some marketing
companies have also not been able to put up standard laboratory
as directed by the DPR to check quality of product before
delivery at their respective depots and filling stations.
Most of them are still using the service of independent laboratory
companies for this purpose mainly at the depot while dealers
of filling stations depend mainly on the depot result. Another
issue is the use of obsolete trucks with porous tankers such
that it becomes for water from dew and light rain to contaminate
the content.
Even the DPR is also guilty as it lacks the necessary facilities
to text the content of imported petroleum products into the
country.
When the case of contaminated fuel was reported to the DPR,
it was learnt that the sample of the ethanol fuel had to be
taken to Ivory Coast for testing.
The Way forward
It is therefore necessary to halt the blame on importers of
blended ethanol petrol into Nigeria.
Rather, it is imperative to find out the flaws in the supply
chain of the petrol responsible for the damages on car engines
reported by motorists.
Firstly, the DPR has to get its acts right and get all the
facilities required to regulate the industry, especially facilities
required to test the content of imported fuel.
The government should not also stop its regulatory function
offshore but should ensure compliance with the industry standard
in the supply chain.
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