Oando PLC, Nigeria’s leading integrated energy group, in its bid to help the nation ensure that only the right petroleum products are sold in the country, has donated a state of the art ethanol testing equipment, known as the ‘Varian CP-3800 GC’ to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). The equipment was presented on behalf of Oando by Mrs Lara Banjoko, Chief Operating Officer, Oando Marketing, and Dr. Chris Onuoha, Group Head, Environment, Health, Safety, Security and Quality, (EHSSQ) Oando PLC at the DPR head office in Lagos on 18th December, 2008.
The Varian CP-3800 GC testing machine meets the 21st century analytical requirements with practical solutions for simple and complex applications to determine the level of all the chemical components present in fuel. The machine’s ethanol testing methods conform to international testing standards of ASTM D4815-(ASTM originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, an internationalstandards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services globally.) In addition, the CP-3800 is easily configured to perform on-line analyses for monitoring critical gas and liquid process streams.
Commenting on the donation, Dr. Chris Onuoha states; “As we import fuels to augment our local consumption from the international markets, the Nigerian oil & gas industry must be ahead or in the least be at par with developments at the global level so that what is sold to us is the exact specification required by Nigerian regulators. This equipment will provide the industry that assurance through entrenched international testing methods, as highlighted in ASTM Processes. This is our contribution to guaranteeing that the highest standard is attained in the industry”.
Responding, Mr. Abiodun Ibikunle, Head of Upstream, DPR, who received the equipment on behalf of the Acting Director, Alhaji Aliyu Sabo-Birni said “today we are witnessing the gains of public-private partnership geared towards making our country a better society as the donation of this ethanol testing machine is a fulfilment of an earlier promise made by Oando”.
