Inadequate Supply, Cause of Fuel Scarcity In S’East –DPR

The department of Petro
leum Resources (DPR) in Enugu State has attributed the current scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called Petrol, in the South East Zone to inadequate supply of the product.
The Corporate Manager of the department, Mr. Peter Ijeh, made the disclosure in Enugu recently in an interview with newsmen.
Ijeh said the scarcity had led to continued non-compliance of some major and independent marketers with the new government pump price of the product.
He said that supply in the five states of the South East of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo had dropped drastically against what it used to be previously.
“Ebonyi State used to have supply of 25 trucks of Petrol a day but that has reduced to four trucks, while Enugu which used to have supply of 80 trucks reduced to 40 as well as the three other states of the zone”, he said.
Ijeh said that the department was collaborating with the Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to ensure that petrol dealers complied with the government’s directive on new pump price.
He said that the department had started to sanction stations that hoarded the product and sold above N86.
Our Correspondent who monitored the level of complaicne to the new pump price reports that many filling stations are yet to adjust their pump price to the new rate.
Some of the stations visited sold the product at between N130 and N150 per litre.
A station attendant at Chris Tee Oils, Mr. Ekene Okpara said that the station bought fuel from the major marketers at a high price and sold at N130 in order to break even.
Okpara alleged that some Mega stations in the state also hoard fuel, while those that sold at the new pump price closed in less than two hours.
The Station Manager at Oando Filling Station at Uwani, Mrs Ebere ogazie, described the new pump price as a welcome development but complained about the non-availability of the product.
Ogazie said the station would comply with the new price when it received supply.
Investigation shows that Oando, Total, Master Energy and some NNPC mega stations are selling the product at the new rate but have long queues of prospective byers.