The Department of Petroleum Resources has said it seized a vessel, MT JAZI, loaded with 1. 5 million litres of contaminated petroleum product in Lagos.

A Director in DPR, Mordecai Ladan disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos on Monday.

Ladan who was represented by Wole Akinmosoye, Lagos Zonal Controller, DPR said the vessel was intercepted on February 11 while discharging at Nakam jetty.

He said investigations revealed that the vessel did not have DPR authorisation to deliver product at the depot.

He said, “The vessel is still under the custody of the Nigerian Navy for more investigation. We wish to reiterate that DPR has no record of any product importation by Nakem.

“We also have no record of any arrangement of the facility with a third party for product storage at the time.”

Ladan said samples from the vessel showed that the fuel was contaminated.

He said that the product failed all the basic parameters, “especially in regards to lour, flashpoint and specific gravity”.

He said the depot had been sealed by the agency since February 12 and the vessel MT JAZI in the custody of Nigerian Navy.

He said, “We wish to use this medium to reiterate our position on zero tolerance to illegal activities in the depots across the nation and unlanding of off-spec product in the facilities.

“As we have always stressed that depots operators should be reminded that the agency will not tolerate landing of products of untraceable source at the depots.”

Azeez