The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, in Bayelsa has sealed nine petrol stations and one illegal transfilling Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, plant for various offences, including expired licences and the lack of basic operational equipment.
Long Queque at NNPC Fuel Station at Eleme along Aba Road in Port Harcourt weekend. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke
The Head of Operations, Mr Ibinabo Jack, who led the team of other DPR officials on an unscheduled visit to various filling stations and gas refilling plants within the state capital, said the sealed stations had violated the operational regulations and standards of DPR.
According to him, “the DPR is a regulatory body and there are regulations binding the operations of retail outlets and this regulation, needs to be maintained by the operators some we are saying that retail outlets operators, should abide with the regulations for their retail outlets.”
He added: “The stations that were placed under seal, must have committed so many irregularities that are punishable. Some were under dispensing some were not having fire extinguishers.
“The penalty varies according to their offences as we go on when they report, we seal for them to report at the office and the appropriate penalties will be meted out to any one of them.
“We saw a retail outlet in which they were selling cooking gas they were trans filling, by that I mean transferring from one cylinder to another cylinder with a tube and valve which is not allowable. That is purely out of practice it’s not accepted that is why we close down that particular station for them to move out that activity in that filling station.
“This reseller is a business they do, they are resellers they are been licensed to some have no licences accordingly been taken care of putting impunity measures but most of them that you may see must have not had their license.”