Hoarding: NMDPRA Begins Surveillance Of Filling Stations

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Abuja Zonal Office, has begun a surveillance of filling stations, to ensure petroleum dealers do not hoard or divert products.
The Authority made this known on Friday, in Abuja, following its ongoing intensified surveillance of some filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), due to an initial artificial scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) witnessed in the territory.
The authority had, on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18, carried out similar surveillance on filling stations in FCT and its environs.
Recall that there were queues at many filling stations in the FCT and suburbs, between Sunday and Thursday, following artificial scarcity of petroleum supply in many stations.
The authority noted that its intensified surveillance, led by Mr Umar Mohammed, Team Lead, Retail Outlet Monitoring (ROM), NMDPRA, Abuja Zonal Office,  had led to the disappearance of queues from all filling stations within Abuja and its environs.
It aimed at ensuring that available petrol products in storage tanks were sold and that all pumps were utilised in dispensing the products at the stations.
The focus of the surveillance had been to ensure availability of the products and that marketers equally adhered to approved and regulated pump price of petroleum.
Similarly, it sought to also ensure that products were delivered in the stations, in accordance with the lifting manifest from the depots.
Speaking following the surveillance, Mohammed expressed satisfaction from the findings of its joint surveillance team.
Mohammed noted that petroleum products, dispatched to all the stations the team visited, arrived there destinations and were discharged, while all the stations had sufficient quantity.
The Team Lead also disclosed that part of the problem was caused by entry into the Yuletide season, which caused a slight increase in demand due to many activities that made the supply not to be enough as it was increasing geometrically.