DPR Warns Against Inflation Of Fuel Price
Petroleum marketers in Bayelsa state have been warned against ripping customers off by selling petrol above the approved pump price or under-dispense the product.
According to the State Controller, the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Ejiro Ufondu, the ex-depot price of petrol was N133, saying that enforcement officials had always made sure that customers in the state were not short-changed by greedy marketers.
The DPR was reacting to complaints by some users of the product that they were buying a litre of petrol above N200.
Ufondu, who spoke during an interaction with journalists in Yenagoa on Friday, said the DPR had been going out on a daily basis to ensure that marketers did not cut corners but sell the product at the government stipulated price of N145 per litre.
She said though the agency as the technical and monitoring arm of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources would usually not interfere with transactions between marketers and depot owners; it was its responsibility to ensure that marketers did not rip off petrol consumers.
Ufondu stated, “I will like to be quoted correctly. What I said was that the commercial transaction that takes place between the marketer and the depot owner is strictly between those two entities.
“It is he (marketer) that decides how much volume of a particular product he wants to buy and then goes to the depot of his choice to buy. That transaction is between those two entities – it’s a commercial transaction.
“If anybody is said to be buying above the ex-depot price, I am not aware. There is an official ex-depot price that every marketer should buy at every depot and that is N133.”
On the issue of black marketers, she said the job of the DPR was to regulate legal marketers and not illegal ones.
Ufondu added that the regular surveillance and enforcement of the government stipulated pump price had prevented sharp practices by marketers.
The state controller stated, “We go out every single day on surveillance. When we go to filling stations, there are several things we do. One of the things we do is to dip our equipment into the tank to know the volume of product the marketer has in his tank.
“We also check the pumps; we go with our standard cans to check if the pump is dispensing right. Some pumps are dispensing right, some are under-dispensing, while some are over-dispensing.
“If the pump is under-dispensing, the customer is getting less for what he is paying for; if the pump is over-dispensing, then the customer is getting more than what he is paying for and in that process, the marketer is losing. All these are what we check at petrol stations. After that, we take decisions and mete out appropriate sanctions to errant stations.
According to the State Controller, the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Ejiro Ufondu, the ex-depot price of petrol was N133, saying that enforcement officials had always made sure that customers in the state were not short-changed by greedy marketers.
The DPR was reacting to complaints by some users of the product that they were buying a litre of petrol above N200.
Ufondu, who spoke during an interaction with journalists in Yenagoa on Friday, said the DPR had been going out on a daily basis to ensure that marketers did not cut corners but sell the product at the government stipulated price of N145 per litre.
She said though the agency as the technical and monitoring arm of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources would usually not interfere with transactions between marketers and depot owners; it was its responsibility to ensure that marketers did not rip off petrol consumers.
Ufondu stated, “I will like to be quoted correctly. What I said was that the commercial transaction that takes place between the marketer and the depot owner is strictly between those two entities.
“It is he (marketer) that decides how much volume of a particular product he wants to buy and then goes to the depot of his choice to buy. That transaction is between those two entities – it’s a commercial transaction.
“If anybody is said to be buying above the ex-depot price, I am not aware. There is an official ex-depot price that every marketer should buy at every depot and that is N133.”
On the issue of black marketers, she said the job of the DPR was to regulate legal marketers and not illegal ones.
Ufondu added that the regular surveillance and enforcement of the government stipulated pump price had prevented sharp practices by marketers.
The state controller stated, “We go out every single day on surveillance. When we go to filling stations, there are several things we do. One of the things we do is to dip our equipment into the tank to know the volume of product the marketer has in his tank.
“We also check the pumps; we go with our standard cans to check if the pump is dispensing right. Some pumps are dispensing right, some are under-dispensing, while some are over-dispensing.
“If the pump is under-dispensing, the customer is getting less for what he is paying for; if the pump is over-dispensing, then the customer is getting more than what he is paying for and in that process, the marketer is losing. All these are what we check at petrol stations. After that, we take decisions and mete out appropriate sanctions to errant stations.
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