The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), yesterday sealed the depots of Total Oil Plc, Eterna Oil Plc and De Jones Oil and Gas Limited for hoarding fuel.
Total and Eterna Oil were said to have hoarded 13.6 million litres of the product respectively, while De-Jones diverted 19.5 million litres of fuel, contrary to the efforts of the federal government to wet the country with sufficient level of the product.
At the monitoring of depots in Lagos on yesterday, the agency also accused Ascon Oil Limited and Integrated Oil and Gas Limited of infractions in the discharge of fuel, but ordered the affected companies to report to its office at 3pm yesterday for further discussion on how to normalise the situation.
But the Managing Director of Integrated Oil has denied the company had infraction in the discharge of fuel.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the monitoring, the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Modeccai Ladan, berated depot owners in the country for hoarding fuel with a view to creating artificial scarcity of the product.
ý Ladan maintained that there is no scarcity of fuel in Nigeria because it currently has in stock over 300m litres of the product, while the government has just paid some of the outstanding debts owed marketers of the product.
ý He said the agency would continue to monitor the depots of marketers with a view to protecting consumers, as well as ensure that the country has enough of fuel to consume.
He also said the agency would not rest on its oars to ensure that depot owners and marketers who hoard fuel are made to face the music.
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