DPR seals 11 filling stations in FCT over malpractice

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has sealed11 filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for under-dispensing and over-pricing of petrol.

The Zonal Operations Controller, DPR, Abuja, Mr Abubakar Buba, disclosed this at the monitoring exercise in Abuja on Wednesday.

Buba said that the DPR had enhanced its surveillance and monitoring of all filling stations to sustain compliance.

“This outing today is just a normal outing but this time around, we want to intensify the surveillance to make sure that filling station operators comply with the rules and regulations of their operations.

“We sanctioned about eight stations on Tuesday and today, three stations which you have also seen because of overpricing and under-dispensing of products,’’ he said.

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He said that it was commendable that most of the stations visited were not hoarding products.

“So far so good, there are no queues, we did not find any station hoarding but we discovered few infractions which we have noted down and they are going to pay the appropriate fine.

“The infractions are overpricing to under-dispensing,’’ Buba said.

He called on motorists to avoid any form of panic buying as there was a sufficiency of product in the country and the government had no plan to increase the pump price.

Buba urged marketers to observe good operational practices that would prevent unintended water ingress into the underground storage tanks.

He added that filling stations should make sure that manholes were properly covered after every stocktaking to avoid water ingress.

“ With the raining season fast approaching, station owners should always check for the presence of water using pastes during discharge and before the commencement of sales.

“Filling station owners should ensure the use of tamper-proof manholes and other seal devices on petroleum products tankers to prevent sharp practices by tanker drivers who deliberately introduce water into products for greedy gains,’’ he advised.

Buba said that some gas plants were sealed for operating without obtaining license from the DPR.

“We are coming after filling stations that have established gas plants without licensing.

“We already have a team going round to check all the stations to check the add-ons and to make sure that all the add-ons are properly documented, make sure they have license and all the necessary approvals.

He assured that the DPR would sustain the monitoring and would come after any station that would be found wanting.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team visited about six filling stations along the Kubwa- Kaduna expressway.

Some of the stations visited include MRS Katampe, Conoil by Dawaki, Eterna, Oando, IBWAS, and A.Y. M Ashafa all on the same axis.

MRS was sealed for hoarding of products, at OANDO, the gas plant was sealed for operating without license, while IBWAS petrol station was sealed for selling petrol at N175 per liter to motorists.

Reacting, MRS Manager, Njor Ocholi, said that the station was not selling their products because it is undergoing maintenance.

“We are not hoarding products, for about four months now, we have not been operating because we did not renew our license.

“We just started operations last week and noticed that we have a faulty tank that is why we are undergoing this maintenance. We will contact the DPR immediately we finish work,’’ Ocholi said.

Vanguard News Nigeria

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