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.