Africans choking on toxic fuel in health "ticking time bomb" -lobby group

Forza Petroleum

16/09/2016 13:37

By Libby George 
    LAGOS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Much of Africa's population is 
being choked by deadly fuels that are banned in Europe and the 
United States, a report said, as international trading firms 
sell high-sulphur fuels illegal elsewhere to nations on the 
continent. 
    Swiss-based policy lobby group Public Eye said low fuel 
quality standards across Africa that allow on average 200 times 
the sulphur content of Europe's fuels enable trading houses and 
retailers to sell dirty-but-cheaper fuels that will "jeopardize 
the health of millions of people." 
    "Swiss traders and others maximize profits by taking 
advantage of weak regulations to produce and sell harmful 
fuels," the report said. "This form of regulatory arbitrage 
ignores the serious risks to public health." 
    The report called on Swiss firms Trafigura and Addax & Oryx 
as well as Vitol, the world's largest trading firm, to only sell 
fuel that meets higher regulatory standards.  
    The group described the issue as a "ticking time bomb" as 
conurbations develop across Africa and populations boom in 
cities such as Nigeria's Lagos and Ghana's Accra.  
    Vitol said it complied with all government regulations, and 
could not control by itself the quality of fuel sold at the 
pump. The others named did not immediately respond to requests 
for comment.  
    Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Morocco have increased fuel 
quality requirements.  
    But the African Refining Association, a non-profit group 
that represents the continent's downstream sector, said that 
changing the actions of the trading houses alone would not fix 
the problem. 
    "If Swiss traders followed the report recommendation today 
their role would be filled by (possibly less reputable) traders 
from other nations," the ARA said. 
    "The role of improving fuel quality in Africa clearly rests 
with African governments, not with the fuel suppliers." 
    The ARA said it had been pressing governments in tandem with 
the United Nations Environment Programme.  
    But higher quality means higher costs, and with many 
countries facing severe shortages in public finances, they are 
wary of angering their populations with higher pump prices. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1BP3E6 
    "The bottom line is that governments have competing 
priorities for available funds," said David Bleasdale, executive 
director of CITAC Africa Ltd, a consultancy that focuses on the 
African downstream sector. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Julia Payne in London; editing by John 
Stonestreet) 
 ((Libby.George@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: 
libby.george@thomsonreuters.com)) 
 
Keywords: FUELS POLLUTION/AFRICA