The Federal Government has urged modular and other refinery operators to target opportunities in the $2 billion bunker fuel market in Africa, even as the regulation by the International Maritime Organisation, limiting the Sulphur in fuel oil used on ships, comes into force.
The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Bashir Jamoh, who raised this position during the opening of a two-day meeting of the agency with modular and other refinery operators and fuel oil suppliers in the country, said that was the way to go in the best interest of the country.
He said the agency was determined and committed to ensuring the availability of marine fuels that complied with the regulation by the International Maritime Organisation limiting the Sulphur in the fuel oil used on board ships to 0.50 per cent m/m (mass by mass).
The NIMASA boss was represented by Acting Head, Marine Environment Management Department, NIMASA, Isa Mudi, who said the agency had made deliberate effort to conform to the new fuel oil mandate, known as IMO 2020.
According to him, the country’s shipping regulator, NIMASA has had interfaces with the relevant stakeholders in the sector on how to reach a win-win agreement on Nigeria’s compliance with the IMO Sulphur content cap.
Going further, he urged all concerned operators to ensure that they update their capacities and that of their staff members to operate in line with global best practice, saying that NIMASA was committed to toing the line of best global practice as the regulator of the sector.
