PETAN Offers Solution To Petroleum Distribution

In a bid to contain the hiccups in the distribution of
petroleum products in the country, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria
(PETAN) has recommended the implementation of a quasi-privatisation of pipeline
infrastructure.

The Chairman of PETAN, Engr. Emeka Ene, who is also the
chief executive of OilData Limited, an indigenous oil services company told The
Tide in an interview in Port Harcourt, last week, that the adoption Compressed
Natural Gas  (CNG) and Liquefied
Petroleum Gas (LPG) transportation should be encouraged to reduce the pressure
on Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) distribution through roads.

Describing the distribution, through pipeline and depots as
the ideal model, Engr. Ene pointed out that vandalisation and dilapidating
infrastructure have made the option unviable.

Also, an industry source who prefers to be anonymous
suggested that the Federal Government, through its agency, should increase the
number of mega stations in the country with a plethora of tankers attached to
the mega stations.

According to him, “I think to be able to do away with the
over reliance on oil marketers, the government through its agency, should
massively increase the number of mega stations either directly owned or partly
owned and also get a plethora of tankers which will provide these mega stations
timely and uninterrupted supply.”

He added that the tankers should be strictly monitored to
ensure they are doing the right thing, and noted, “That means more hands would
be needed to man these mega stations and tankers to keep them going.”

The hiccups in the distribution of petroleum products in the
country have not only been occasioned by pipeline vandalisation and depots’
bureaucracy, but the incessant strikes by operators in the petroleum value
chain.

It would be recalled that there has been a faceoff between
the Federal Government and the oil marketers for non-payment of subsidy which
led to the recent strike that was called off by the National Union of Petroleum
and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

Prior to the strike, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala was quoted as saying that the Federal Government was willing to
negotiate with oil marketers indicted for subsidy fraud in order to encourage
them to import fuel.

The report quoted the minister as saying that indicted
marketers considered qualified for dialogue with government were those whose
infractions were not too grievous, and insisted that government would not
submit to blackmail by marketers who had queries over subsidy payments made to
them in the past.

Reacting to allegations by some marketers that they were
being owed billions of naira for imported fuel, Okonjo-Iweala said, “Those who
we consider their infractions not too grievous, we are willing to talk to them
and if they are willing to work with us, we would also be willing to settle
their claims, so that they can go and import.

“But to some of those who are bent on blackmailing the
Federal Government even though they have committed very serious infractions in
the subsidy, we are not willing to pay them when they have not cleared their
cases.”

She disclosed that after the verification exercise,
government had been making payments to genuine marketers and only those being
prosecuted have their money withheld.

Vivian-Peace Nwinaene