Black market fuel made in Nigeria is less toxic than the petrol and diesel sold to Nigeria by European traders, a report says.

Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), a non-governmental organisation, compared 91 samples of imported fuel and black-market petrol from Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region.

Its study showed that imported diesel and petrol sometimes contained more than 200 times more sulphur than the limits set by the European Union.

In comparison, fuel from black market sources in the Niger Delta contained more than 150 times more sulphur than those limits.

SDN is now calling for fuel quality tests to be carried out nationwide immediately to explore the full extent of the problem.

In 2017 improved standards for fuel quality were approved by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, but SDN says there has been little enforcement.

Nigeria is one of the world’s largest producers of oil, but with its refineries closed or dysfunctional, the country relies heavily on the fuel being processed abroad before it is sold back to Nigeria.