DPR Insists Petrol Marketers Must Submit Daily Stock Records

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has maintained that petroleum marketers in the country must submit daily stock records.

In a statement, the agency regulating the industry said this is one of the statutory requirements to be adhered to by the fuel sellers.

The DPR had requested licensed petrol stations to submit their daily transaction records, but the operators, through their group, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), threatened a strike action.

They alleged that officials of the agency were using the means to extort them, describing the request for daily transaction records from filling stations as unacceptable.

“IPMAN has no other alternative other than instructing our members not to load from Suleja depot in Niger State to express our frustrations after all efforts to make DPR officials desist from unethical practices failed,” the Chairman of IPMAN in charge of Suleja/Abuja Unit, Mr Yahaya Alhassan stated.

But the DPR in the statement said the fuel marketers are not required to pay for filing the statutory report, urging them to submit the data via its website, www.dpr.gov.ng.

In the statement issued by the Head of Public Affairs at the DPR, Mr Paul Osu, the agency explained that the reason for the request is to collate data on the consumption of the product in the country.

“We want to state for the records that request for daily stock of products supplied is a statutory regulatory requirement for any retail outlet license holder, which enables DPR to provide accurate petroleum products consumption data for the country. This regulatory oversight is at no cost to the retail outlets,” the statement said.

According to the DPR, the provision of the daily stock report, which is also applicable to petroleum products depots, also enables DPR to provide investment guide to investors in line with its role as a business enabler and opportunity house for the oil and gas industry.

“The department wishes to inform all marketers that all applications and applicable statutory fees for retail outlet operations have been migrated online, www.dpr.gov.ng, in furtherance of the federal government’s ease of doing business policy,” it added.