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Tag: DPR

  • DPR seals off four filling stations in A/Ibom

    DPR seals off four filling stations in A/Ibom

    The Department of Petroleum Resources has sealed off four filling stations in Akwa Ibom State for selling premium motor spirit (PMS) above the federal government approved price of N86.50.

    DPR has also fined Jobina filling station located in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital the sum of N1 million for selling petroleum product after DPR had sealed off the filling station .

    Mr. Bassey Nkanga, the DPR’s Operation Controller in Charge of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, revealed this during his surveillance of filling stations within the Uyo metropolis on Saturday.

    Nkanga noted that DPR had earlier sealed the filling station for not having a valid licence.

    He explained that the station had been operating for about 10 years without valid licence in the state.

    According to him, the filling station would pay the sum of one Million naira for violating seal order, adding that the whole station had been sealed off.

    His words: “This station is under sealed because is operating without valid licence and is not a new filling station that is just newly built.

    “This is an old station that has not regularise its licence and we shut it down but coming here today, we saw them selling AGO, whereas the whole station had been sealed.”

    Nkanga said that depot owners who sell petroleum products above ex-depot price would be sanctioned.

    He said that if marketers would not sell their products at government regulated price, they should stop bringing products to the state.

    According to him, any marketer that will sell petroleum products, especially PMS above government price will be sealed accordingly.

    He said: “Any marketer that cannot sell petroleum product at stipulated rate of N86.50 should not even bring the product to the states at all.”

    He said that the Federal Government was partnering Stakeholders in the downstream sector to ensure that normalcy return to the petroleum industry in no time.

  • DPR announces arrival of petroleum products ordered by NNPC, marketers

    DPR announces arrival of petroleum products ordered by NNPC, marketers

    The Director of Petroleum Resources (DPR) Mordecai Ladan, yesterday raised Nigerians’ hope on availability of petrol with the announcement that consignments ordered by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and major oil marketers had started arriving the nation’s ports.

    Major Marketers had withdrawn from the importation of products as a result of difficulty in accessing foreign exchange until the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collaborated to give them easier access to FOREX.

    He broke the news to reporters after inspecting an NNPC affiliate station in Gwarimpa and the Oando Petrol Station on Obafemi Awolowo Way, Jabi, beside Karimo Road fly over in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The director also shut down the Oando Petrol Station over suspected adulteration of its fuel.

    Ladan had led the enforcement team of the department to the station after a tip-off that it had refused to sell its product.

    On arrival, the DPR team discovered that although the station had about 9,000 litres of petrol, it refused to sell to the long queue of motorists that had spent the whole night at the filling station.

    But the station’s attendants complained that their pumps were faulty and could easily pack up after dispensing product for a few minutes.

    Following the inspection of the pump and the content available at the station, Ladan sealed the station up, saying: “For this station, we have almost 9,000 litres underground but the pumps are not responding to drawing this fuel from the ground. That means that there is a problem.

    “The problem is that adulteration is suspected. That is why we are calling on the pumps to withdraw from this station pending when we carry out our investigations.

    “We have sealed it. It is going to be quarantined until the necessary inspection and assessment is done and we know how to go from there.”

    According to him, the product must have been mixed with extraneous substances that were heavier and affecting the pump.

    Most of the motorists who had queued for fuel overnight lamented that the station was playing pranks, adding that it was in the habit of selling fuel above the recommended pump price to black marketers at night.

    One of the motorists, who identified himself as Tosin Bright, said: “I came here at 4.30 am. Look at the time; it is now 2.30 pm but I have not gotten fuel while those that came with plastic cans between 9 and10 am have bought fuel.”

    Another customer, Adisa Olutayo, said “once it is night, they adjust the pump. They sell to kegs and in the morning they revert to the normal pump price.”

    Commenting on the fuel situation, Ladan said: “In the first stations we visited, which is NNPC in Gwarimpa, they have more than enough products to last for four days. From the inspection we carried out, they have more than 200,000 litres; that could last into Monday next week.

    “We are appealing to the public that they should not panic because these products are already arriving and lifting is going on from the coastal depots into the hinterlands. So very soon, the situation is going to normalise. “There is more than enough that the government has ordered, both by the NNPC and the marketers.”

  • DPR denies withdrawing private licences

    DPR denies withdrawing private licences

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has denied withdrawing licences for private refineries.

    The DPR, in a statement yesterday, said: “In line with our commitment to entrench transparency in oil and gas regulation, we wish to make the following observations about private refineries: There are three stages of licensing for establishment of private refineries in Nigeria namely; Licence to Establish (LTE), Approval to Construct (ATC) and Licence to Operate (LTO).

    “DPR granted LTE to 21 companies with a validity period of 18 months in 2002. In 2004, 17 of the earlier LTE were granted ATC for a 24-month validity period.”

    The department said in 2007, it reviewed the existing guidelines and a new guiding document, “Guidelines for the Establishment of Hydrocarbon Processing Plants in Nigeria”, was introduced to ensure that only committed investors were licensed.

    Based on these guidelines, there were 25 private refinery licences granted to companies with 21 in the Licence to Establish (LTE) category, while four in the Approval to Construct (ATC) category, the statement said.

    The DPR added that three of the 25 licensed companies were billed to construct conventional stick-build plants and 22 to construct modular units with a proposed combined refining capacity of 1,429,000 barrels per day (bpd).

    “The public and stakeholders are assured that DPR has not withdrawn the licence of any private refinery. Rather, the department is in alignment with government’s aspiration of improving Nigeria’s refining capacity by strengthening its oversight function of the petroleum sector in Nigeria,” it said.

  • DPR, IPMAN trade words over ‘overpayment’

    DPR, IPMAN trade words over ‘overpayment’

    Independent Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) yesterday disagreed over supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol above the official pump price of N86:50K per litre.

    While IPMAN alleged depot owners were selling the petrol above the official price, DPR challenged the fuel marketers to present evidence of buying the product above the official price from depots.

    DPR’s Assistant Director, Operation Abuja zonal office, Ahmed Alaku, told journalists after inspecting the sale of products at Nasarawa and Abuja that there must be evidence of overpayment before the agency can act.

    He said: “If anybody buys the product above the normal price at the depot there should be evidence.

    “Once you don’t have evidence and nobody has come to say that they have been selling the fuel at the depot above pump price so in that situation once we come to any filling station it has to sell at the company price.

    “You know we DPR are purely regulators and of course we ensure that whoever that has products in his filling station has to sell at government price.”

    But Vice President of IPMAN, Alhaji Abubakar Dankingari, who spoke with our correspondent in Abuja, insisted that the marketers have been presenting evidence of over-payment to the DPR and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    According to him: “We have been carrying a lot of receipts and many evidence to them.

    “They (NNPC and DPR) are all aware. It is no secret even you if you call the lines of any private depot they will tell you the price.”

    He also alleged that the corporation was only selling fuel to its retail outlets and major marketers who in turn sell to independent marketers above pump price right at the depots.

    Dakingari added: “They are not loading the independent marketers so the major marketers and NNPC retail outlets they are selling their products at the terminal.

    “Like in Lagos where they are loading most of them sell their products there.

    “Integrated and Total sell at N110 per litre when they finish loading there at the same terminal.”

    But Alaku insisted DPR has never hesitated to sanction any depot that sells products above pump price, stressing that any culprit must pay N2 million for the violating the price.

    He recalled that DPR penalised affected depots in January.

  • DPR challenges marketers to present evidence of over payment

    DPR challenges marketers to present evidence of over payment

    The fuel crisis that enveloped the country have refused to disappear, according to the Independent Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) Friday, because depot owners sell  the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) above the official pump price of N77 per litre.

    But the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) Friday challenged the fuel marketers to present evidence of buying over the price from depots.

    Assistant Director, Operation Abuja zonal office, Mr.  Ahmed Alaku, spoke with journalists after inspecting the sale of products at A.A. Rano in Mararaba, Mararaba 2 Total, AYM Shafa Ltd Mararaba in Nassarawa State and the Zone 1 Total filling station, Wuse, zone 1, Abuja.

    Asked to respond to the allegation that some marketers bought petrol above pump price from the depots, which was their reason for selling above pump price, he said: “If anybody buys the product above the normal price at the depot there should be evidence.

    “Once you don’t have evidence and nobody has come to say that they have been selling the fuel at the depot above pump price so in that situation once we come to any filling station it has to sell at the company price.

    Continuing, he said, “you know we DPR are purely regulators and of course we ensure that whoever that has products in his filling station has to sell at government price.

    But the Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Abubakar Dankingari, who spoke with The Nation at Abuja,  insisted that the marketers have been presenting evidence of over-payment to both the DPR and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    He said that:  “we have been carrying a lot of receipts and so many evidences to them. They (NNPC and DPR are all aware. It is no secret even you if you call the lines of any private depot they will tell you the price.”

    The Vice President also alleged that the corporation was only selling fuel to its retail outlets and major marketers that in turn sell to independent marketers above pump price at right there at the depots.

    His words: “They are not loading the independent marketers so the major marketers and NNPC retail outlets they are selling their products at the terminal.  Like in Lagos where they are loading most of them sell their products there. Integrated, Total sell N110 per litre when they finish loading there at the same terminal.”
    Meanwhile, Alaku noted that the DPR has never hesitated to sanction any depot that sold products above pump price, stressing that any culprit must pay N2 million for the violating the price.

    The Assistant Director said that “DPR is all over the country. We have our staff in all the depots: Calabar and everywhere. And any of the depots we find them selling about the pump price that depot will be sanctioned and it has to pay N2million for selling above the pump price.”

    He recalled that in January DPR had in January applied the sanction and penalized the affected depots.

    Also speaking on the unending fuel crisis in Nigeria, Kachikwu said the Federal Government is considering deploying information technology in the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) supply chain to end the perennial fuel queues witnessed across the country.

    He disclosed that the Federal Government plans to computerize the supply process from export of the product down to the sale of the product to motorists.

    According to him, computerisation is one of the key initiatives that are being considered in tackling the fuel shortages, especially as it would enable the tracking of products discharged from oil vessels and tankers to depots; then what was loaded from the depots by trucks.

    He added that it would also help track what the trucks deliver to petrol stations and what was purchased by motorists.

  • Police wades into DPR, IPMAN feud in Kwara

    Police wades into DPR, IPMAN feud in Kwara

    The Police in Ilorin have waded into the feud between the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and members of the Kwara State Branch of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).

    The Head of Operations of the DPR office in Ilorin, Mr Ibitayo Oyedele, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ilorin.

    He said that the Controller of the DPR in the state, Mr Philips Salvation, had petitioned the police and the DSS over an alleged manhandling of some DPR workers by IPMAN members.

    According to him, the police have invited some officers of IPMAN for questioning on the development.

    NAN recalls that both DPR and IPMAN members have been at loggerhead since 2015 when the DPR controller refused to allow them to sale fuel above the approved pump price of N86.50.

    Oyedele told NAN that it was not true that independent marketers bought their fuel at higher prices from private depots.

    The head of operations said that fuel sold by the independent marketers were imported by NNPC and sold to them at the official price.
    He also said that independent marketers who bought fuel from distant PPMC depots were paid for bridging.

    “It is not correct that marketers lift petrol at higher prices from distant depots, every extra expenses incurred by marketers is defrayed by the Federal Government,” he said.

    Oyedele said that because the controller refused to shift grounds and allow the marketers to sell at exorbitant prices, they had refused to sell their products to the public.

    According to him, this is the main cause of the acute fuel scarcity in Kwara, particularly in Ilorin, the capital.

    Oyedele alleged that a factional leader of IPMAN, Mr Olanrewaju Okanlawon, had led some members of the body to assault DPR officials, who had come to seal off his filling station at Ajase Ipo Road, Ilorin.

    Efforts to get the reaction of the IPMN chief on the matter yielded no dividend as his mobile phone was switched off.

  • IPMAN threatens to shut down operations in Enugu, Anambra

    IPMAN threatens to shut down operations in Enugu, Anambra

    The Enugu Zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) has threatened to shut down operations in Anambra and Enugu over alleged harassment by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    Its Chairman, Chief Ikechukwu Nwankwo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka that the planned showdown was to protest the incessant harassment of the members by the officials of the DPR.

    The chairman accused NNPC officials of sabotage, saying they were in the habit of preventing marketers from procuring products at the approved depot prices.

    He called on the Federal Government to “probe, expose and punish the unpatriotic elements in the organisation.

    “We have been meeting on this issue of selling at the approved price; DPR officials have been going to our members with security agencies to harass them, charging them for one offence or the other.

    “Anambra and Enugu are the worst hit and we shutdown our stations for them this week so that they can service the people as they wish.

    “NNPC does not supply us products, so why will they send DPR to come and be chasing us around?

    “Let them sell to us at the normal N77 cost price, then they will not need to enforce anything,” he said.

    Nwankwo called on Anambra and Enugu state governments to liaise with the NNPC and ensure that the right quotas to the states were supplied as the residents were suffering.

    He also opined that if the depot in Enugu, which had broken down for more than 11 years, was repaired, it would reduce the pressure of supply to the zone.

    Efforts to reach Ms Ngozi Okoye, the Special Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on Oil and Gas, were not successful as she was out of the office and calls to her phone were not picked.

    In his reaction, the Operations Manager at the Enugu office of the DPR, Mr Ahmed Gwaran, said the agency was aware of the threat.

    Gwaran said the DPR and the petroleum products distribution stakeholders in the zone comprising Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states had met to forestall the action which would have serious economic consequences on the lives of the people.

    He said, however, that the enforcement was a policy issue which would not be compromised, adding that the government price was sacrosanct and that the meeting would help to smoothen rough edges.

    The marketers have always sold above the current approved N86.50 pump price in Anambra as the product sells for between N120 and N130 per litre.

  • DPR sealed 100 petrol stations in 5 weeks – official

    DPR sealed 100 petrol stations in 5 weeks – official

    The Warri Zonal Office of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said it sealed about 100 erring petrol stations in the last five weeks in Delta for various offences.

    Mr Goddey Agusa, the Head of its Public Affairs Unit, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri.

    Agusa said the petrol stations were sealed for offences bordering on hoarding, diversion, over-pricing as well as under-dispensing.

    He said the sealed petrol stations were in Warri and environs, adding that most of them were involved in under-dispensing of products to the public.

    “The common practice among the oil marketers today is the issue of under-dispensing and DPR is equal to the task.

    “Most of the marketers pretend to comply with the Federal Government directive on pump price of N86.50 per litre, but they under-dispense.

    “About 80 out of the 100 petrol stations sealed in the last one month in the state were involved in under-dispensing to the public.

    “We go out on surveillance with our measuring gauge and once we discover that you under-dispense, we don’t have options than to dispense your fuel to the public free of charge.

    “However, if the practice continues, we may decide to revoke their operational licence,’’ he said.

    Agusa said the sealed petrol stations would pay a fine of N100, 000 each for their offences before they would be reopened.

    He, however, said that the petroleum marketers were complying with the Federal Government’s directive on the pump price.

    Agusa said the regulatory agency would continue to monitor activities of petroleum marketers until they fully complied with the distribution and sales of petroleum products.

    He warned marketers who short-changed the public to desist from doing so, noting that defaulters would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

     

  • DPR closes two filling stations in Akure

    DPR closes two filling stations in Akure

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    • Motorists seek agency’s intervention

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in charge of Ondo and Ekiti states yesterday sealed two filing stations in Akure, the Ondo State capital, for hoarding petrol.

    The affected stations were Koleman Petroleum at Oke-Ijebu, Akure and Olusile filing station at Oba-Ile in Akure North Local Government.

    Besides, the DPR has begun the enforcement of the new N86.50k pump price per litre in the two states.

    The enforcement followed the decision of independent marketers and even some NNPC stations to sell at the old price of between N120 and N140

    The DPR team led by the Acting Controller for Ondo and Ekiti, Godwin Obasuyi, in all the stations visited ensured that the marketers sold the products at ?new price of 86.50k.

    Motorists and motorcyclists in Ekiti State have called on the agency to begin a crackdown on filling stations yet to comply with the new pump price of N86.50k.

    They are angry that the marketers are yet to comply with the new price regime set by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) five days into the New Year.

    The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Station on Iworoko Road on the outskirts of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, has been selling the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at N86 per litre from January 1, when the new price regime took effect.

    Other NNPC retail stations in other parts of the town have also complied with the new price but major and independent marketers have defied the order to adjust their pumps to reflect the new price.

    Major and independent marketers sell between N115 and N130 per litre to consumers.

    Consumers who spoke with The Nation in Ado-Ekiti yesterday said the DPR’s intervention became necessary to call the marketers to order and save them from further exploitation.

    A motorist, James Adu, wondered why marketers always drag their feet each time there was downward review of pump price of PMS but always adjust their metres immediately fuel prices go up.

    He said: “That has always been their style whenever fuel price is reduced; they always claim that they are yet to exhaust the stock but that will not be the same when the price is increased.

    “We want DPR to intervene here in Ekiti because we heard that erring petrol stations have been shut down in neighbouring states and their fuel dispensed to consumers free of charge. We want DPR to do same here in Ekiti.”

    A motorcyclist, Femi Amusan, who described many of the marketers as “economic saboteurs”, said consumers in Ekiti are now at the mercy of owners of petrol stations.

  • Inadequate supply, cause of fuel scarcity in S/East – DPR

    Inadequate supply, cause of fuel scarcity in S/East – DPR

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    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Enugu State has attributed the current scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the South East Zone to inadequate supply of the product.

    The Corporate Manager of the department, Mr. Peter Ijeh, made the disclosure in Enugu on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    Ijeh said that the scarcity had led to non-compliance of some major and independent marketers to the new government pump price of the product.

    He said that supply in the five states of the Southeast of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo had dropped drastically against what used to be previously.

    “Ebonyi State used to have supply of 25 trucks of petrol a day but that has reduced to four trucks, while Enugu which used to have the supply of 80 trucks reduced to 40 as well as three other states of the zone,’’ he said.

    Ijeh said that the department was collaborating with the police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to ensure that petrol dealers complied with the government directive on new pump price.

    He said that the department had started to sanction stations that hoarded the product and sold above N86.

    A NAN correspondent who monitored the level of compliance to the new pump price reports that many filling stations have yet to adjust their pump price to the new rate.

    Some of the filling stations visited sold the product at between N 130 and N150 per litre.

    A station attendant at Chris Tee Oils, Mr Ekene Okpara, told NAN that the station bought fuel from the major marketers at a high price and sold at N130 in order to break even.

    Okpara alleged that some mega stations in the state also hoarded fuel, while those that sold at the new pump price closed in not less than two hours.

    The station manager at Oando Filling station at Uwani, Mrs. Ebere Ogazie, described the new pump price as a `welcome development’ but complained about the non-availability of the product.

    Ogazie said the station would comply with the new price when it received supply.

    NAN reports that Oando, Total, Master Energy and some NNPC mega stations are selling the product at the new rate but have long queues of prospective buyers.