PETROAN Seeks State of Emergency on Oil and Gas Sector

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency on the nation’s oil and gas sector, particularly the four state-owned refineries.

This call was made by the National President of PETROAN, Mr Billy Gillis Harry, who noted that President Bola Tinubu must take urgent steps to revamp the refineries in order to stop the continuous hike in the price of petroleum products.

Mr Harry, while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt, warned that the problem of price hikes would not end anytime soon until all the refineries in the country become operational.

He said, “The main way out is to declare a state of emergency on all the four refineries. The refineries should be revamped, rehabilitated and made to function.

“Now that we have Senator Heineken Lokpobiri as Minister of Petroleum, we will interface with him on this issue, on what needs to be done, and we hope to get answers.

“Our refineries must work; in-country refining capacity must increase. Modular refineries of 10,000 barrels per day and above should be encouraged to be assembled in Nigeria in order to be able to meet the petroleum products consumption in Nigeria.”

On the issue of rumoured fuel price hikes, the PETROAN boss said that only fuel importers could confirm the rumour since it is not within its purview.

He, however, appealed to Nigerians not to indulge in panic buying to avert the issue of fire explosions.

“There is a rumour of fuel price increase, but it’s only a rumour and not a fact. It’s only when importers tell us that the landing price has been affected by forex or cost in logistics that’s when we will know.

“However, we will advise that members of the public should not engage in any panic buying based on the rumour, because your life is important, since petrol is a very volatile product that can easily be inflamed.

“However, prices will continue to fluctuate so long as we (Nigeria) are import dependent; prices will either go up or come down depending on the purchasing power of the Naira over the Dollar.”