Fuel Will Be Available Throughout Festive Season -DPR Assures Cross River Residents

The Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR) in Cross River has assured residents in the state and beyond that there was enough product to serve for the Christmas season and beyond.

DPR Operations Controller in the state, Sircham Mohammed-Musa, gave the assurance on Thursday in Calabar during surveillance to some filling stations to ensure compliance with DPR guidelines.

He stated this while inspecting Mainland oil and gas depot that the agency had issued warning to marketers to desist from any form of hoarding or face sanctions.

“This time, we are assuring Nigerians that the depots in Calabar are filled with petroleum product to serve all categories of consumers.

“As we speak, we have over 100 million litres in stock and this will serve all consumers during the Christmas season and beyond. Some vessels are currently at harbour, waiting for space to discharge the product.

“During surveillance today, we found out that some stations were selling at N142 per litre as against the government approved price of N145. This is why we go on surveillance and one of the benefits of deregulation. The price is down because the product is available,” he said.

On hoarding, he said that DPR was out to ensure that any product that is lifted from the depot gets to its final destination to serve the consumers.

He said that from the DPR assessment, petroleum marketers and depot owners were cooperating in ensuring stability of price and availability of the product.

At the NNPC filling station, a buyer, Mr Chike Amadi, said that the surveillance by DPR would make filling station owners to adhere to standard.

Amadi said it was a thing of joy to have the product still sold at the government approved price without any panic buying or fears of artificial scarcity.