DPR blames marketers for fuel scarcity

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Warri Zonal Office, has blamed oil marketers for the current fuel scarcity being experienced in Warri and its environs.

The Head, Upstream of the DPR, Mr Ogbe Nicholas, made the remark on Wednesday when members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Delta Council was monitoring the situation in Warri.

Nicholas said the marketers indulged in the habit of hoarding the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) thereby creating artificial scarcity.

He said that the regulatory body had sealed several filling stations in Delta for selling above the approved pump price of N145 per litre and it would continue to enforce its mandates.

” I am sure this scarcity will be over soon because the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is doing everything possible to ensure the product is available,” he said.

Also , Head of the Downstream, Mr Anyanwu Ignatius, advised the marketers not to buy above the ex-depot price.

However, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the Group General Manager, Government and Labour Relations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said that petroleum product was being lifted at the Warri depot.

Ughamadu, who confirmed this to newsmen by telephone in Warri could not give the actual quantity being lifted.

He, however, accused the marketers of hoarding the products and assured that the corporation was doing everything possible to end the scarcity.