Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
The largest oil producer in Africa has been importing inferior petroleum products from Malta, a small nation without any known oil refineries, according to documents and in-depth interviews with sources.
BusinessDay gained access to the confidential files, which described a complex scheme including the shipment of inferior petroleum gasoline from Russia to Malta for subsequent blending before shipping to Nigeria.
According to one of the documents that were leaked, Matrix Energy, a business that operates both upstream and downstream, has been bringing in low-grade petroleum products and mixing them with higher-grade fuel before selling them in Nigeria.
Matrix Energy Group operates in the upstream and downstream sub-sectors of Nigeria’s oil and gas and is managed by Abdulkabir Aliu, the CEO of the company.
Aliu belongs to the exclusive group of well-known Nigerians known as the Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PEEC), which is entrusted with creating long-term solutions to uphold the nation’s framework for economic governance and ensure competent and well-coordinated economic planning and execution.
Additional research revealed that Matrix Energy owns over 600 trucks, three historic ships (Matrix Pride, Matrix Triumph, and Matrix S.ILU), and a 150 million-liter depot in Warri.
According to a senior insider in the shipping industry who spoke with BusinessDay, the company imports a lot of Russian goods through a number of blending facilities.
Shipping tracking information, on May 26, 2024, revealed that matrix ships like the “MT Kallos” loaded off-spec (bad fuel) items from a ship originating in Novorossiysk, Russia.
Additional shipping data revealed that on June 16th, 150000 tons of petroleum products were transloaded onto the ship “Matrix Triumph,” which was then discharged on June 21st onto Matrix Jetty in Warri.
Kelvin Emmanuel, energy expert and co-founder and CEO of Dairy Hills, said,
Another source said:
The source noted, “They are selling flammable diesel with toxic fumes to Nigerians while pocketing huge profits.”
When the House of Representatives visited the Dangote Refinery on July 20, 2024, they purchased and tested diesel from Matrix filling stations, and the results showed that the sulphur levels were higher than 2,653 parts per million (ppm) compared to the required threshold of 50 ppm. This verified the import of poor diesel by Matrix.
According to Dangote, the test was conducted utilizing the ASTM D4294 technique using an Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) Spectro Photometer.
Malta supplied petroleum products to Pinnacle Oil and Gas FZE facility, according to a leaked vessel arrival ullage report from the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA)..
