OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN has Said one of the major reasons it advocates for the deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector is to ensure adequate margins to finance depot safety upgrades.
The Association made this known in a statement on Sunday while giving an update on the OVH tank farm fire that occurred last week.
According to the statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Clement Isong, said deregulation would make adequate funds available for safety measures to be put in place.
It however said the Association has always insisted on internationally accepted safety standards and shared best practices in their self-regulation drive and cross-inspect members facilities and installations to meet these standards.
“MOMAN members have therefore continued to invest in and upgrade safe practices, firefighting and other equipment to meet the country and these jointly set standards”.
“MOMAN shall continue to collectively self-regulate within its membership with a view to ensure continuous upgrade and update of safety equipment, practices, and standards”.
It added that MOMAN remains committed to the sustainability and institutionalisation of a viable downstream petroleum industry for the social and economic growth of our Country, Nigeria.
The statement assured that the fire which occurred on Thursday 5th November 2020 at about 12:15 PM had been fully contained and did not spread further than the initial tank.
“As at the time of putting out this statement the fire has been totally extinguished with no fatality recorded”.
It said immediately the fire was reported, OVH Marketing Limited, a founding member of MOMAN, initiated its emergency response plan and activated the joint Emergency Response Plan engaging MOMAN members with facilities in Apapa to assist the depot in containing, controlling, and extinguishing the fire. “The Federal Fire Service, Lagos State Fire Service and other agencies/organizations were also invited in line with the Emergency Response Plan and were on hand to support the combined efforts to combat the fire”.
It acknowledge the roles played by the Nigeria Ports Authority, United Bank for Africa, National Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, NNPC, NIPCO Plc, NAPIMS, Folawiyo Energy Ltd, HOGL Energy Limited, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Police Force and the Unions within the petroleum industry. According to MOMAN, they all contributed many fire trucks and firefighting equipment, chemicals and firefighting foam and other firefighting resources including expertise and manpower to fight the fire.
“As stated above, the quick implementation of the previously conceived and well-rehearsed Emergency Response Plan and the combined effort of all those mentioned above achieved the result that it was expected to achieve in these circumstances. The fire did not spread to any other tank within the OVH premises and certainly did not spread to any other facility outside the OVH facility”.
“The MOMAN HSEQ Committee and the MOMAN Apapa Operations and Logistics Committee made up of experts and consultants from member companies continuously and collectively review and update the joint Apapa Emergency Response Plan, sharing best practices and conducting joint emergency drills rehearsing different scenarios to keep the emergency response teams and neighbouring emergency response agencies ready to combat this type of eventuality. These committees will work with OVH Energy Marketing Ltd specialists and safety teams and the authorities to carry out a detailed investigation to identify the immediate and remote causes of the fire and share learnings with all stakeholders”.
It assured that MOMAN, in collaboration with PPMC have taken steps to ensure continuous supply of product to Lagos, its environs and across the Country.
“We wish to assure members of the public that there shall be no product supply disruptions because of this event”.
