The Department of Petroleum Resources DPR on Friday, sealed 7 filling stations in Oyigbo and Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The Department maintained that it will not spare petroleum marketers who hide under the guise of buying product above the ex-depot price to sell to the public above the official pump price of 145 naira.
The Head, Downstream DPR Port Harcourt Zonal office, Emmanuel Enwuchola, stated this shortly after a surveillance exercise to filling stations in Oyigbo and Tai local government area.
According to him, DPR will sanction any filling station outlet that sells petroleum products above one hundred and forty-five naira, stressing that federal government have not increased the fuel pump price in the country.
“If the marketers cannot buy and sell at the pump price of 145 naira a litre, they should not buy. PMS is regulated. Anything that is regulated whether the products is available or not, you have to sell at the approved price, that is the law. Federal government has not increased pump price. We in DPR can not close our eyes while the public suffer”
The DPR Head Downstream, charged petroleum marketers who claims to buy above the ex-depot price to come out with proof by declaring the price on the product waybill, to enable DPR sanction the defaulting depots.
“As far as there is no enough product available and marketers continue to do sharp practices, we will continue with this surveillance.
“Marketers should show us their evidence that they bought above pump price, then DPR will take up the matter with the depot. If they lobbied with no evidence, then we cannot trust what there’s no evidence to, we don’t work by stories”
Our Correspondent reports that DPR surveillance team visited 35 filling stations in Oyigbo and Tai local government area, 17 were selling at the official price of 145 naira, while seven filling stations were sealed for selling above145 naira, diversion of petroleum product and under dispensing.
