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Tag: DPR

  • Why we seal filling stations across Nigeria – DPR

    Why we seal filling stations across Nigeria – DPR

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has said that the essence of insisting that Petroleum Marketers totally comply with the rules guiding product distribution in the country is to instill sanity into the system to promote investment and not to make money for the Federal Government.

    The Zonal Controller, Port Harcourt Operation, Bassey Nkanga gave the explanations shortly after a routine Surveillance operation in Rivers state, against the ongoing festive season.

    Addressing journalists, Nkanga said that DPR is mandated by the FG to ensure strict compliance in the petroleum product distribution chain for the growth of the business in the country including the state to ensure that consumers get value for their money, and not necessarily to generate funds for the FG as wrongly being insinuated in some quarters.

    He said that a total of eight filling stations were sealed in the state in the two-week end of the year, last quarter intensive routine surveillance operation by the Department, to ensure that nothing goes wrong during the Christmas and New year celebrations, and even after.

    Speaking, the Controller said, “…In Rivers state particularly, we started these intensive surveillance last week and so far we have closed down eight filling stations for various offences, we have visited over 70 filling stations since we started.

    “Just today alone, we shut down four filling stations after visiting about 22 filling stations and the essence of this surveillance is to ensure that petroleum products marketers do not exploit their customers as well as continue maintain a good compliance level as far as guidelines and regulations are concerned.

    “The closure of filling stations is not to generate funds for the federal government but are just deterrent policies of government to ensure that marketers comply guidelines and regulations,” he explained.

    Nkanga noted that the move was aimed at promoting investment opportunities in the oil and gas industry.

    Giving insight on the expectations of the public in the year ahead, he said, “For the year ahead, DPR will continue to operate in a way that will promote investment opportunities in the oil and gas sector and also work with the operators to ensure that things are done correctly, reduction in operational cost and increment in investment activities as well as penetration of the use of LPG in the rural communities.”

    He expressed gratitude to petroleum marketers in the state for their supports and level of compliance to the DPR product lifting and distribution guidelines, but however warnes against any deviation, slack presently or in the future, adding that their will be no Scape goat should anyone caught indulging in any activity that will underminine the record already achieved.

    “From my judgement, i would say the marketer are not doing badly, over 80 per cent of filling stations visited were in line with total compliance, but those ones that are caught not complying with guidelines and regulations will be adequately sanctioned if need be, because there are some marketers who could have had problems due to metre malfunction, in such situations we know, correct them and ask them to continue their business, but for the ones that are trying to cheat the public deliberately are the ones to face severe sanctions.” he stated.

    During the surveillance outing, the DPR team among other things checked for the level of sand in each sand bucket at filing stations, the state of the sand, (wet or dry), fire extinguisher expiry dates, product quality and above all, how it is being metered, depended to the public(correctly, under Despenser or over Despenser).

  • More Oil Companies Will Exit Nigeria soon – DPR

    More Oil Companies Will Exit Nigeria soon – DPR

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has warned that a huge number of companies in the oil and gas sector will soon begin to leave Nigeria.

    The Deputy Director and Head of Upstream Division at DPR, Mr Enorense Amadasu, said at a stakeholders’ workshop in Lagos on Thursday this will occur as a result of some oilfields reaching the end of their shelf lives due to lack or inadequate maintenance. He said in the next 10 years, most of these oil fields will become obselete, forcing operators to abandon them.

    Mr Amadasu expressed concerns over the low level of exploration in the nation’s oil and gas industry, saying only one exploration well was drilled from January to September this year.

    “There is a need for exploration and production companies to focus on exploration or things that will help to build additional reserves,” Mr Amadasu said at the meetin.

    “For most of them, in another 10 years, if they continue to produce at the rate they are producing, they are going to get to the end of life of those fields,” he added.

    According to him, the nation’s oil production has been sustained around two million barrels per day and 2.2 million barrels per day, pointing out that the technical allowable production stood at 2.7 million barrels per day in the first half of the year and 2.3 million barrels per day in the second half.

    Mr Amadasu said, “We have all been given a target by government to take production to three million barrels per day by 2020.

    “From the beginning of the first quarter to the end of the third quarter, we drilled only one exploration well.”

    He further disclosed that there were seven appraisal wells, 99 development wells and 195 re-entry/workover wells in the nine-month period from January to September.

    On his part, Mr Sarki Auwalu, the new Director of the DPR, said some had argued that the oil and gas reserves had almost dried up.

    He said, “We know this simply isn’t the case. The Nigerian sedimentary basins are still open for business and with about 37 billion barrels remaining and a lot of yet to be explored potential, we will still be producing oil for decades to come.

    “However, as the oil becomes more difficult and costlier to extract, new approaches are required to improve the economics of operating in the industry and regulating it efficiently.

    “As a regulator, we know that there is much we can do to support additional production and maximise the potential of the Nigerian resources, working in partnership with the industry.”

    Mr Auwalu stressed that there must be a deliberate reserve growth policy and financial incentives for operators to take on the challenges of tapping the increasingly hard-to-reach resources.

  • UPDATED: FG revokes MKO Abiola’s oil license

    The Federal Government has revoked the oil prospecting licence granted late Basorun MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12 1993 Presidential election annulled by former military president Ibrahim Babangida.

    In a public notice issued on Thursday by the regulatory body, the revocation was based on a presidential directive to “recover legacy debts” owed by the companies operating the licences.

    The five companies affected are: Pan Ocean Oil Corporation (OML 98); Allied Energy Resources Nigeria (OML 120 and 121); Express Petroleum and Gas Company (OML 108); Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria (OML 110) and Summit Oil International (OPL 206)

    Summit Oil is owned by the family of late Chief M.K.O. Abiola.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that Pan Ocean hopes to commence the production of oil and gas from OML-147 at Owa Aladima.

    OML 147 is one of the northern most development in the Niger Delta, and also the first to be on production among the 2007 bid rounds.

    The firm’s three projects which will be ready for unveiling at the technical start up taking place June 10, 2019, is expected to contribute significantly to Nigerian industrialisation and economic growth, on the highway one part and empowerment of the host and impacted communities.

    The former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, had last February announced plans to recover the oil licenses of the companies indebted to it.

    He expressed worry that some of the companies has failed to make statutory remittances in spite of being in Joint Operatorship (JV) with the Federal Government, a development he said was denying it revenue running into billions of dollars.

  • DPR generates N1.3trn as revenue, $200m from ‘legacy indebtedness’ in 2018

    Mordecai Ladan, the Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Tuesday said the organisation generated N1.3 trillion as revenue and an additional $200 million from legacy indebtedness in 2018.

    Mr Ladan made this known at the opening of a workshop on Revenue Generation, Accounting and Reporting Process to the Federation Allocation Accounting Committee (FAAC) in Abuja.

    The workshop was organised by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).

    Mr Ladan, represented by Adewale Johnson, said that the DPR had over the years been working assiduously to shore up federation government revenue profile.

    “In DPR, to shore up our revenue we embarked on reducing approval time for permit certificates as it now takes 48 hours to get approval for permits.

    “All our interventions are to ensure that revenue accruable to the federation account comes in as soon as possible and in 2018, for the first time, we collected N1.3 trillion as revenue for the year.’’

    The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, while declaring the workshop open called on revenue generating agencies to re-strategise on their operational methods to surpass their previous records and targets.

    The minister was represented by Mohammed Dikwa, the Executive Secretary, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA).

    According to Mrs Ahmed, low oil price and low revenue performance by some of the agencies result in low revenue, which in turn necessitate the introduction of series of palliative measures by the Federal Government to support states in payment of salaries.

    They include bail-out funds of N10 billion to each of the 35 states that had outstanding salary payments, restructuring of commercial loans and Budget Support Facility which the 35 states also participated in.

    She added that from the repayment of the Paris Club funds over deductions, N1.38 trillion was paid to the states in three tranches.

    Mrs Ahmed, however, said there was the urgent need on the part of all revenue generating agencies to ensure accountability and transparency in the collection and remittances to the federation account.

    She said that the revised reporting template would provide in transparent manner information on revenue generation.

    “The reforms introduced by the OAGF and the various agencies should as much as possible lower the time-lag between collection and remittance into the federation account.

    “The reporting template should be explicit enough and user-friendly too,’’ she said.

    Ahmed Idris, the Accountant-General of the Federation, said that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved a new and improved performance management framework for Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) to raise revenue generation and remittances.

    He said that performance contracts for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to set targets for revenue generation would be set, while mandatory regular monitoring to ensure monthly publication of revenue and expenditure performance would be carried out.

    Mr Idris also said that quarterly remittance of interim operating surplus by GOEs would replace the annual remittance.

    Mr Idris added that the OAGF was working on modalities of establishing revenue department in GOEs to be manned by its staff.

    The workshop was also attended by Babatunde Fowler, the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigeria Customs Service.

    They all expressed their willingness and commitment to ensuring that remittances to the federation account were done transparently and timely.

     

  • DPR seals 46 filling stations in Akwa Ibom

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Akwa Ibom says it has sealed 46 filling stations without the department’s licenses and under dispensing of petroleum products in the state.

    DPR Head of Operations in Eket Mr Olusegun Dabor disclosed this when the department carried out routine inspection of fuel stations in Uyo and its environs on Thursday, saying that the fuel stations concerned were sealed from December till date.

    He noted that some filling stations were yet to acquire licenses since they started operating in the state while others were operating without signposts.

    The head of operations said that the filling stations were operating for over six years without approved licenses from the department.

    “The department has sealed 30 filling stations without operational license and 16 stations were under dispensing their products.

    “For those filling stations under dispensing, we have to come back and check if their pump is working before we can unseal them,” Dabor said.

    He said that the department had embarked on aggressive surveillance to check the activities of petroleum products dealers during the yuletide season.

    Daboh said that the names of the defaulters would be given to the sister agencies for further prosecution.

    He said the surveillance team of the department was working with sister agencies to monitor the sealed filling stations in the area.

    The DPR head of operations said the department would give the defaulters one month to repair their pumps.

    He advised the public not to panic in buying petroleum products during the yuletide season “because there is availability of the products in the country.“

    Reacting to sealing of filling stations, Mr Paul Dickson, Station Manager at Mega Filling, Uyo whose pump was allegedly under dispensing, acknowledged the sealing of some pumps in the station.

    He said that the under dispensing of petroleum products in the station was as a result of old pumps, adding that such pumps had been worn out.

    “Some of our pumps are actually old and plans are underway to change the old pumps and fix new pumps, “ he said.

    Pumps 9 and 10 of the Mega filling station were sealed for under dispensing of the products.

     

  • FG begins construction of modular refinery in Delta state

    The federal government on Thursday said construction work has now started on OPAC Modular Refinery in Kwale, Delta State.

    The FG made this known today saying the construction work was according to President Muhammadu Buhari’s new vision for the Niger Delta.

    According to the FG, one of the focus areas of Buhari’s new vision for the Niger Delta is enabling the establishment of private modular refineries.

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said in a statement that the refinery, being promoted by Pillar Oil Limited, Omsa Limited and Astek Limited, will process 7,000 barrels per stream day of crude oil when completed.

    The modular refinery, expected to come on stream in the fourth quarter of this year, DPR said 7,000bpsd of crude, equivalent to 350,000 tonnes of crude oil annually, would come from Pillar facility in Kwale.

    “The facility is expected to come on stream in the third quarter 2018 and the DPR has granted it requisite approvals: approval to relocate plant and approval to construct plant in line with our effective regulatory process and in alignment with government’s aspiration to stimulate economic growth,” the agency said on Wednesday.

    The main products from the refinery will include naphtha, kerosene, diesel and fuel oil fractions.

    According to the statement, the refinery facility includes storage depot for crude oil and finished products, and loading terminal.

    “The modular straight run refinery consists of the following modules: oil refining unit cru-350; heating furnaces; pumping stations; water cooling system; separation and preparation tanks; storage depot; control room with electrical panel; utilities supply and office facilities including laboratory; and truck-loading station,” the statement added.

    The DPR noted that the FG granted 18 refinery licences in 2004, which later grew to 23.

     

  • DPR sanctions 6 erring petrol stations in Warri, environs

    The Warri Zonal Office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has sanctioned six erring petrol stations in Warri and its environs.

    The Warri Zonal Operations Controller, Mr Antai Asuquo, disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday in Warri shortly after a surveillance exercise.

    Asuquo, who led the surveillance team, said the petrol stations were sealed for under-dispensing and over-pricing.

    He said the team, comprising two groups, visited 17 petrol stations in an exercise that lasted over six hours.

    Though the controller expressed joy at the level compliance to the government-approved pump price of N145 per litre, he however said the regulatory agency would keep monitoring the marketers until there was full compliance.

    The DPR officials, accompanied by security operatives, covered Warri, Ughelli and Udu Local Government Areas, and also, some filling stations that dispensed slightly above the approved pump price were compelled to sell at N145 per litre to consumers.

    “We visited 17 stations and six were sealed for various offences bordering on over-pricing and under-dispensing and appropriate sanctions have been meted to them.

    “We will continue this process; as we observed, the level of compliance is gradually increasing; there are products and we expect that in the next two weeks, it would have normalised completely.

    “However, we want to solicit the support of the security agencies to ensure that appropriate law is enforced, particularly violation of the sealing of filling stations by DPR, which contravenes the law of the land.

    “We are only a regulatory agency; we do not enforce the law.”

    Asuquo said that DPR would keep monitoring products lifted from private depots and ensure they reached their approved destinations with the exact quantities discharged.

    The controller appealed to the public to assist the regulatory agency with useful information about sharp practices by marketers, in order to the address the situation.

    “The public should call the DPR whenever they notice infractions with regards to over-pricing, under-dispensing among other anomalies.

    “We will take appropriate actions immediately,” he said.

     

  • Fuel scarcity: DPR seals 4 filling stations in Warri

    The Warri Zonal Office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Monday sealed four petrol stations in Warri over sharp practices.

    The Warri Zonal Operations Manager, Mr Yusuf Sule disclosed this to newsmen shortly after an unscheduled visit to some petrol stations in Warri.

    Sule, who led the surveillance team, said the stations were sanctioned for hoarding, under-dispensing and over-pricing, adding that over 11 stations was visited.

    He said that some of the petrol stations were compelled to dispense at the government approved pump price of N145 per litre.

    “We sealed four petrol stations over various offences bordering on under-dispensing, over-pricing and hoarding.

    “We also compelled the marketers to dispense fuel at the regulated pump price of N145 per litre,” he said.

    The manager advised petroleum marketers not to buy the product above the ex-depot price of N133.28k, noting that it was not an excuse for them to sell above the official pump price.

    “The law says sell petrol at N145 per litre and anything contrary to that should be avoided.

    “If you must remain in business, you must play according to the rules of the game.

    “The marketers should stop buying at exorbitant prices. We asked them to provide evidence to enable us to address the fundamental issues right at the depots.

    “As we speak, no one has come forward with evidence, so they should buy at the ex-depot price or they will continue to be at loggerhead with the DPR,” he said.

    Sule said that the regulatory agency would continue to enforce compliance.

    Most of the marketers, however, in their response said they bought at between N167 and N175 per litre at the depot.

     

  • PMS scarcity: Sell at N145 or lose your petrol, DPR warns marketers in Anambra

    PMS scarcity: Sell at N145 or lose your petrol, DPR warns marketers in Anambra

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has warned marketers within its Enugu Zone to comply with N145 pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or have their products dispensed to customers free.

    Mr Unyime Akpan of Health, Safety and Environment Department, DPR Enugu Office, gave the warning in Awka when he led an enforcement team to Anambra on Tuesday.

    Akpan said the team sealed one filing station for allegedly refusing to revert and enforced the pump price sale of the product in nine other stations on Atani road in Ogbaru and some parts of Idemili North Local Government Areas.

    He expressed regret that some marketers had remained defiant, in spite of DPR’s efforts to ensure compliance, noting that the DPR might apply more stringent punishment by dispensing products of defaulting marketers to customers for free.

    “Petrol price is controlled; stations are not supposed to sell above N145 per liter and if the cost of getting products suggests they cannot sell at that price, then they should leave out.

    “Marketers are the people encouraging the hike; if they are not gaining from it, then they leave out until the system returns to normal.

    “We may have to begin to dispense their products free because DPR also has the powers; if this price compliance sales proves ineffective, we may be left with no option than to give out their petrol, so that they can understand how serious we are,” he said.

    In a reaction, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) absolved its members of any complicity in the hike of petrol price and blamed it on scarcity.

    Chief Ikechukwu Nwankwo, Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot, in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, urged DPR to stop the clampdown the members as sealing outlets and auctioning the products would not solve the problem.

    Nwankwo decried the petrol supply situation in the country and called for a more sustainable measure to normalise it.

    He said DPR’s action on IPMAN members, especially those under his zone, amounted to being punished for a problem they did not cause and could not solve.

    Nwankwo said that solution to the problem was massive and sufficient supply of petrol into the system by the NNPC.

    The IPMAN chairman said marketers were making efforts to make the product available to customers as complete scarcity would amount to shutting the economy and holding the masses hostage.

    “I have spoken with my members here in Anambra, the situation of fuel supply is bad and it is our wish that we begin to get products like the way it used to be before.

    “IPMAN is not happy with the way the DPR is harassing us, closing our stations and auctioning our products. It is like they want to push us out of business because we cannot continue to suffer this loss.

    “NNPC is not allocating products to us, DPR should go and monitor the marketers that get allocation from NNPC; how can we buy product at N190 or N195 and DPR sells them off at N145.

    “We make extra effort to get product at tank depot so that economic activities can go on and we should not be punished for that; we may have to close our stations if they continue to pursue us,” he said.

    TheNewsGuru reports that pump price of petrol has dropped from between N240 and N250 to N200 per liter.

     

  • DPR seals 6 filling stations, enforces N145 per litre in Anambra

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has seal off 6 fuel stations in Anambra for allegedly hoarding and selling petrol above the official pump price of N145 per litre.

    The affected filling stations were located in Awka, the capital city, Onitsha the commercial town and neighbouring Nkpor and Obosi.

    NAN reports that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) sold between N220 to N240 per litre in Awka and most parts of Anambra at outlets owned by major and independent marketers.

    The DPR also enforced the government approved pump price of N145 per litre by supervising the dispensing of over 16,000 litres of PMS to customers in the state.

    Speaking on their field operation in Anambra, Mr Callistus Obodoechina of the Retail Outlets and marketing Unit, DPR Enugu office said the enforcement would continue until marketers complied.

    Obodoechina said the reasons for sealing the filling stations include selling product above the approved pump price, refusal to revert to normal rate. alleged involvement in diversion and hoarding of products.

    “In line with the resolve of DPR to ensure that Nigerians especially PMS user buy the product at the government approved pump price, we have intensified monitoring here in Anambra.

    “Our aim is to ensure that every marketer who has products sells at the normal price and make that there is no hoarding and diversion.

    “In two days we have supervised the sale of over 16, 000 litres of PMS to the public at N145 and the sense of relief clear on the faces of people.

    “We also sealed six filling stations that refused to revert immediately on the excuse that the director or technician was not around and those who hoarded or diverted products.

    The official said it was unfortunate that marketers in the state had continued to cheat customers in spite of the government pronouncement on the situation.

    Also speaking, Mr Uyinme Akpan, an official of DPR deplored a situation where marketers return to the exploitative ways soon after the DPR enforcement team left their filling stations.

    Akpan warned that such practice would be met with strict application of the law and advised them to either sell at the approved rate or don’t sell at all.

    He assured customers in Anambra of continued protection of the DPR and encouraged them to report defiant marketers for appropriate actions.

    Meanwhile customers in Anambra have commended the DPR for its mitigating role and called for a more robust enforcement through deployment of more teams to the state.

    Mr Chris Nduka said Anambra was so big that one team of DPR enforcers cannot create the desired effect because of the attitude of marketers who were bent on ripping off their customers.

    “The federal government iis doing well through the activities of DPR but it is not enough, the agency should be beefed up with manpower to effectively manage te situation,” he said.