By Thompson ABISOLA
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said it is working closely with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure regular supply of petroleum products.
The Deputy Director and Head, Downstream Monitoring and Regulations of DPR, Mrs Ijeoma Onyeri, said this on Thursday in Warri during a two-day facility tour of Western Zone.
Onyeri, who led some management staff on the inspection audit, had met with the depot owners on Wednesday at Warri Zonal office of the regulatory agency.
She said DPR took the issue of safety and security of staff and facilities with all seriousness. Onyeri advised depot owners to ensure they train their staff using accredited DPR consultants.
She also advised them to ensure that their trucks were in good condition and their drivers were in their right frame of mind to reduce carnage on the highways.
“A committee has been constituted to work with the government to ensure that the pipelines are revived; that will help to reduce accident on the roads.
“We are also working with the NNPC to ensure regular supply of petroleum products. As head of the downstream, it is my primary mandate to visit the downstream facilities across the nation.
“I have visited Port Harcourt and Calabar axis, now I am in the Western Zone where some of these facilities are also located.
“The message I am driving is safety; we want a situation where our personnel will be safe and our facilities are also secured because a lot of financial muscle are put into it.
“I visited Matrix Energy, AYM Shafa Depot and Pinnacle Oil and Gas in the Warri axis on Wednesday, today (Thursday), we have visited Optima Energy Group, Prudent Energy, Nepal Depot and Rainoil in Oghara axis,” she said.
The director said the level of safety compliance by the depots was quite impressive and urged operators to keep it up.
“The level of safety compliance and house keeping of the facilities are very encouraging, even when they want to commission facility, they do that according to the DPR regulated standard,” Onyeri said.
