BY EDIRI EJOH

The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has condemned the high rate of petroleum products adulteration, adding that the Department is set to flag-off an online registration of trucks and depots to curb this threat that has eaten deep in the oil industry.

A refinery

In his presentation at the Oil Trading and Logistics 2014, African Downstream Expo in Lagos, the Director, DPR, Mr. George Osahon, blamed the incidence of adulteration of products to inadequate monitoring in their various depots or stations.

He said, “Adulterated petroleum product is a great challenge in the downstream for so long and the department is on a verge of resolving these issues by providing an online monitoring registration.

“The Department has come up with the idea of registering various trucks and depot in the country with an online system that tracks and brings to our notice any form of irregularity in the petroleum product delivered to these stations or depot.”

He however, frowned at the excessive charges on operators in the oil and gas industry by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON. He said the DPR will discourage these irregularities and will review all of these challenges and proffer a more suitable and viable friendly industry for investors to come in.

“Well, you cannot expect a fuel station to be charged per annum of a sum of N200, 000 or thereabout, the question is, how much do they earn? And how can one pay such exorbitant amount of money.

Responding to the delay in licensing of operators, he noted that it is in the best interest of Nigerians that proper measures were taken before issuing licenses for operations

“Also, I am not happy with the delay in the licensing of operators intending to import petroleum products. For an operator to come on stream, certain requirements and certifications have to be made.

“For instance, there should be an environmental, community impact assessment, and the operator must show that you have adequate installed capacity. You must also have a depot or sign an MoU with one depot before license would be guaranteed to such operator.

He revealed that a total number of 149 tank farms were registered in the country this year, up from 123 in 2013.

Also speaking, the Director General, SON, Mr. Joseph Odumodu, denied that the organisation is responsible for the smuggling of sub-standard products into the market, disclosing that the agency is not alerted to some products that berth.

He said, “We are fully aware of the unavoidable need for standards for any given product in a country. We are partly handicapped because, we no longer operate inside the port since 2012, when the Federal Government approved eight agencies for port operations.

“The director noted that, “we certify standards for LPG cylinders to ensure that they are safe to use and that is why, the department is making a policy on LPG management, which will soon be published and distributed for use. We also certify standards for petroleum products, LPG, and metering that come into the country,” he added.

He however called for collaboration among stakeholders in the industry to ensure that standards are imbibed in its practice, as there are standards in everything.