30 August 2012, Sweetcrude, IBADAN – THE Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, says all fuel station owners in Oyo and Osun states must renew their operating licenses before October this year or risk being disallowed lifting of petroleum products from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, depot.
DPR, Oyo/Osun zone issued the warning its yearly marketers forum in Ibadan.
According to the Controller of the zone, Mrs. Folashade Odunuga, the DPR received 229 applications for renewal of storage and sales licenses from January till date.
She said failure to validate an operating license would attract a ban.
“During the year, we received 229 applications for renewal of operating licenses while only 201 were successful. This, in our opinion, is a wide variance with the number of licensed stations that we have.
“With effect from October 1, 2012, filling stations without current license or receipts will not be allowed to lift products at the depot,” she warned.
Odunuga explained that the taking over of a petrol station, rebranding and operating without approval were illegal.
“All take-over stations branded and operating without approval will be treated as illegal petrol stations. The use of old licenses of petrol stations already taken over for lifting is illegal and will be treated as such,” she said.