Following the scarcity of aviation fuel known as JET A1, there are indications that airlines in Nigeria are now being flown on Kerosene (DPK) as major tank farms in Apapa are now being approached for kerosene in absence of aviation fuel.
A reliable source at one of the major JET A1 distribution tank farms confirmed to Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week that the company is currently loading kerosene in large quantities to be used by the airlines instead of aviation fuel.
Following the scarcity of aviation fuel known as JET A1, there are indications that airlines in Nigeria are now being flown on Kerosene (DPK) as major tank farms in Apapa are now being approached for kerosene in absence of aviation fuel.
A reliable source at one of the major JET A1 distribution tank farms confirmed to Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week that the company is currently loading kerosene in large quantities to be used by the airlines instead of aviation fuel.
Our correspondent gathered that the chemical that is used to process the DPK in order to enable it pass for aviation fuel is currently not available and that the airlines are now using local kerosene directly as an alternative.
Hitherto, it is being obtained from the NNPC at only N40.90k per litre; the tank farms now sell kerosene to airlines as imported aviation fuel at N152 per litre, while some of the airlines purposely collect the kerosene to reprocess with chemicals.
Speaking with our correspondent, a petroleum expert however confirmed that DPK and JET A1 are not the same product. According to him, the products are similar in nature, but they possess different specifications and require different levels of handling, transportation and storage infrastructure.
However, while speaking with Shipping Position Daily, a marketer, Olanife Adeoye argued that DPK stands for Dual Purpose Kerosene; this means that it can be used for two cooking and for flight purpose.
He confirmed that airlines sometimes use kerosene to fly but they call it JET A1.
Explaining further, he said that, "the kerosene we have is not usually handled well, when they take it from the depot, they take it to the aviation unit where they now filter it to remove impurities and add the normal blue color, but it is still the same kerosene".
They remove from the depot where the tanks are not so clean and they go and clean it up, after this, it is usually sold at international price to the airlines" he said
When our correspondent contacted a top manager at Sahara Energy Limited, which is a leading aviation oil distribution depot in Nigeria, the management of the company was not forthcoming with responses.
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