Even as the Joint Task Force (JTF) battles the scourge of illegal refineries and the sale of illegally refined petroleum products particularly, diesel, indications have emerged that the products are now finding their way to depots in Apapa, Lagos in large volumes.
Organizations like the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have also raised alarm over the dangers of using illegally refined diesel for vehicles and warned its members not to use it for their trucks.
Even as the Joint Task Force (JTF) battles the scourge of illegal refineries and the sale of illegally refined petroleum products particularly, diesel, indications have emerged that the products are now finding their way to depots in Apapa, Lagos in large volumes.
Organizations like the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have also raised alarm over the dangers of using illegally refined diesel for vehicles and warned its members not to use it for their trucks.
A member of the union at Ascon Oil unit, Mr. Owolabi Jimoh in an interaction with Shipping Position Daily last week confirmed that the union has warned its members of the dangers of using cooked diesel for their trucks.
According to him, the product usually destroys vehicle injector within a short time and it can also condemn truck engines.
But surprisingly, he said that majority of tank farms in Apapa now prefers to take delivery of the product because it is very cheap and they make more money from the sale.
Another characteristic of the illegally refined diesel apart from its cheap price is that, it is very black in color compared to the original product.
Apart from this, when handled, the product is usually too foaming.
One of the oil peddlers around Ibafon took time to describe the difference between the original and the fake diesel to our correspondent last week.
According to him, the cooked diesel must be allowed to settle properly before the top will be carefully filtered into a drum, while the bottom if used mistakenly can cause damage to vehicles.
He said that the fake diesel is most suitable for manufacturing industries and that they are usually in high demand by these companies.
Describing the refining process, our source said:"They use local technology to heat the crude in drums and get out the petroleum products that they sell to unsuspecting customers"
"Most of the petroleum products got from the crude is mainly diesel and kerosene because it is easier for them to refine".
It would be recalled that the JTF said recently that it destroyed more than 500 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta alone.
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