The Department of Petroleum Resources has sealed six filing stations in Cross River State over the diversion of petrol and price hike.
The Operations Controller of DPR in charge of Cross River State, Mr. Bassey Nkanga said on Thursday that the stations were sealed within the last one week for violating government directives.
He explained that Dandy Oil and Willis Oil were sealed for diverting the product meant to be sold in the state, while Con Oil and three others were shut down for selling the product above the government approved price of N145 per litre.
Nkanga said that the intensified surveillance was carried out to ensure that the product released from the depot was sold to the public at the government approved price of N145 per litre.
“In the past few days, we have embarked on an intensified surveillance to ensure that the product released to Cross River is sold in filing stations in the state and at the stipulated price.
“Some marketers were found to have aired; some diverted the product and were not able to account for it. We gave them a time grace and after that, we will conclude that they have diverted the product and sanctions will be meted on them.
“Any marketer who diverts the product will pay N200 fine on each litre diverted, if it is a whole truck, the marketer will pay N6m and those selling above government price will pay N100, 000 as fine respectively.
“Some of the marketers have come to report that the alleged diverted products have reached their stations; we are going to monitor them and ensure that the product is sold at N145 per litre.”
He further said that DPR in the state would soon start announcing the number of trucks released to Cross River and the allocations, so that the public can report back to them in case such products were diverted by marketers.
He explained that such effort was to ensure that the product meant for each fuel station in the state was delivered and sold to the public at the stipulated price.
“Marketers should respect the guidelines covering their operations. They should operate within the confines of the guidelines and ensure that those products given to them are sold to the public accordingly.
“The government is doing everything possible to bring back normalcy in petroleum product supply. I wish to appeal to the general public to have faith in the government because efforts are on to ensure availability of the product across the country,” Nkanga added.
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