Description

Sludge is a dark viscous liquid produced by engines and machines which utilize lubricating oils and this dark viscous liquid is produced alike by engines of cars and vessels alike. It is believed that sludge is of no importance and economic value but however, it may not be as we think it is. It has always been said that “dirty business is good business“ and in this context I will agree. In the cases of motor vehicles, the quantity of sludge produced is in small quantities while vessels can produce some much larger volume. I noticed one day that I saw a man pushing a wheelbarrow looking all black and out of curiosity inquired and said it was for sale to certain individuals and companies and this indeed puzzled me the more.

In-addition to this, I decided not to let the sleeping dogs lie and carried out my own research by getting a sample. In this regards I will like to advise that whenever you are offered any type of oil whether it be lubricating or refined it is advisable to take a little sample and you request for full analysis of the sample. As soon as this was done I noticed that the results yielded a good one and caught my eye the result was very similar in properties to fuel oil which is another combustible refined oil product used in the generation of power!

Furthermore, I was able to do some research at a little depot facility and noticed that there was some refining and recycling processes and the product in this question was sludge which was being refined to bring out a better quality and were being loaded in trucks just as normal refined oil for further distribution to companies and organizations in 33,000 liter trucks and in very large volume. What was really amazing was that the whole operation was done in secrecy and some individuals from a certain part of the country were dominating the trade!

I then gathered that, an average of 50 trucks (1,650,000 liters) is what is loaded every forth night from this facility. Nothing in the downstream oil and gas industry and business is a waste and everything of economic importance. Although the current facility is a small place it is still operational with other facilities and offices in Port Harcourt, Calabar and Delta state and raking in good amounts of profits at the end of the year if I will reveal the amount it will sound unbelievable!

As at today, this product has come to make a stay as the demand is high not only in Nigeria but in other African Countries from Sonacop terminal in Benin Republic, Douala Port in Cameroon, Abidjan, Mombasa Port in Kenya and the Port of Alexandria in Egypt and a funny thing is that refined sludge is purchased in foreign currencies in other countries apart from Nigeria.

In a nut shell sludge either in its raw form or recycled is of great economic importance as some individuals and companies use it in place of low pour fuel oil (LPFO) and some individuals sell it at the same rate as fuel oil. Fuel Oil imports into the Lagos axis and region is very minimal when compared to other areas such as Calabar and Port Harcourt where 80% of refined fuel oil imports go to and purchase and utilization is high so most companies in Lagos who utilize most low pour fuel oil (LPFO) depend on the other refineries within the country to for their source.

We should however, ask ourselves that after purchase of the product you will need to insure, freight and pay operational and loading expenses to load the product down to Lagos. However, when you load sludge in Lagos and freight within the same state you will land much more affordable and your product will always be a better choice for most companies.

This report highlights the following:

(1) How to source sludge
(2) How to go about sludge business in Nigeria
(3) Where to go buy sludge
(4) How to execute sludge business in Nigeria
(5) How to become a player and also how to broker sludge transactions in Nigeria

Furthermore, it has been heard several times that there is no employment in the country as at today and there is no employment in Nigeria and the only way to tackle poverty and unemployment is through entrepreneurship and establishment of small scale industries this on their own which can be used to tackle the growing rate of unemployment in the country at the moment.