14 October 2013, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, says it is determined to ensure that petroleum products being brought into the country and loaded from various depots across the country were of best quality as it urged operators of the depots to maintain the products’ quality.
The DPR gave the assurance at the annual general meeting of the agency and the depot owners in Lagos, where its Operations Controller for Lagos Zone, Mr. Gbenga Koku, observed that the downstream sector was confronted by various challenges, but added that it was the responsibility of the DPR as industry regulatory agency and the operators to ensure safe operations in accordance with the petroleum laws.
Advising the operators to ensure that only accredited third party laboratories were engaged in the process of recertifying imported products, Koku said: “We are putting measures in place that will allow regular sampling of products from depots’ storage tanks to ensure that unwholesome products are not allowed to get into the distribution chain”.
According to him, many of the operators had ignored its directive on the installation of positive displacement meters at the inlet pipes into all the depots, reminding them that dynamic measurement was becoming the global standard and Nigeria’s oil industry should not be left behind.
He also condemned the situation whereby many depot operators were modifying their facilities without recourse to the apex regulator of the oil and gas industry.
Koku reminded that operators required DPR’s approval before carrying out any increase in storage tank and any other work that deviates from the approved design of the depot.
“One area of particular concern to us therefore, is the supply of petroleum products to facilities and premises without appropriate licences and permits from the DPR. We have severally warned marketers on this issue but sadly, the practice is still prevalent. It is our intention to deploy more stringent monitoring regime in order to bring this practice to an end,” he said.
“Petroleum regulations provide that only the DPR registered companies are allowed to conduct business in Nigeria’s oil industry. It is therefore pertinent to urge all of you to engage only companies that are registered with DPR to carry out any job in your facilities,” Koku added.
To ensure safe delivery of products to the retail outlets, he charged the depot owners to ensure that their transporters train their drivers.