Operation Controller, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Benin field office, Ebi Ogiowo, has said that the federal government is considering transportation of petroleum products to various part of the country through the rail system.
Ogiowo said this at the weekend while speaking with journalists on the sideline of the 2020 annual meeting with petroleum products and gas marketers in Edo and Delta states organised by DPR.
“Like you know, oil and gas industry in Nigeria is more than 50 years and some of the pipelines are equally that old, while some of them are not functional,”
According to him, there are depots in some eastern and northern states of the country that are not functional because the integrity of the pipelines had been compromised.
“Government is actually looking at some alternatives of moving petroleum products because our roads are over-burdened, as it is the only way to move petroleum products and between 80 to 90 percent of petroleum products movement is through the road.
“So, government is investing heavily in rail transportation and considering it for movement of petroleum products and in the next two years, it will see the light of the day and Nigeria will all be better for it, as it will help in reducing the risk of moving petroleum products across the nation through the roads.
Ogiowo, noted that the meeting was to bring DPR and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, to come together to look at areas where they have gaps and lapses and try to see how to proffer solutions to be able to close them.
He advised petroleum products and gas marketers to adhere strictly to the DPR guidelines to ensure safe operation and avoid disaster, noting that apart from making profits, “one of the key things for being in business is safety and sustenance of investment.”
Ogiewo explained that DPR is out to sanitize the gas industry in collaboration with other government agencies in the bid to close the gaps noticed in their operations.
Earlier in his presentation, Chukwu Emmanuel, Assistant Corp Commander, Federal Road Safety Corp, said stakeholders must play their role to minimize hazards in the sector.
He noted that trucks conveying petroleum products and gas were meant to pass integrity test with tracking system, saying “if this is imbibed it will go a long way in reducing petroleum tanker accident.”
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