The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has said the Apapa Jetty and some petroleum products storage facilities in the area need to be upgraded.
The Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, said the upgrade would help enhance safety and smooth distribution of petroleum products across the country.
He spoke on Thursday after an inspection visit to some facilities operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria.
Ahmed, who was accompanied by the Group Executive Director, Downstream, NNPC, Mr Adeyemi Adetunji, inspected the storage facilities of Ardova Plc, TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria Plc and OVH Energy Marketing Company.
According to him, Lagos is one of the key areas through which Nigeria receives imports of petroleum products, and Apapa is home to major facilities for offloading vessels and trucking out petroleum products to other parts of the country.
He said: “This visit is in line with our oversight responsibility to see the reality on the ground. There have been a lot of complaints about the facilities being dilapidated and needing some upgrade for efficient delivery of petroleum products. There is a lot of work to be done to upgrade these facilities. We went round some of the marketers’ facilities and we saw that most of them have not been upgraded in 20 to 25 years.
“We also saw that some marketers are upgrading their facilities and there are a lot of expansion projects going on in terms of storage facilities for petroleum products and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, as well as truck-out facilities. So, it is very good to see the upgrade in those areas but generally speaking, the jetty needs a lot of work to be done in order to meet up with the new safety requirements.”
Ahmed said the NMDPRA would hold quarterly meetings with the marketers to review areas of concern.
The Executive Secretary, MOMAN, Mr Clement Isong, thanked Ahmed for visiting the facilities to gather first-hand information on the challenges facing the marketers.
“This is the sort of regulator we have been looking for. The one that supports us, that supports our business, works with us, feels our pain and does what he can do to help us,” he added.
