The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), on Friday sealed no fewer than 10 filling stations in Benin for over pricing of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol.
Some of the stations sealed include; Foadal along Airport road, Asolyn in Sapele road, Raptor oil along Upper Mission and Saint Taiye Oil and Gas by Lawani Junction in New Benin.
The sealed stations were selling the product between N150 to N160 per litre as against the government regulated price of N145 per liter.
The DPR team, led by the Head, Downstream, Benin Zone, Mr Victor Enelama, also ensured that other petrol stations not sealed immediately reverted to the official pump price of N145 per liter.
He promised continuous monitoring to ensure compliance even beyond the yuletide.
Enelama said the operation became necessary because many persons in the state were now ”taking what is supposed to be abnormal, to be normal so, we have to correct this”.
“The federal government has not increased the pump price of PMS but we discovered that it is being sold above the official pump price in some locations and the DPR through the director requested that we should sanction anyone in such practice.
“This is in total disregard or deviating from the conditions in the license we issued out to them. So we want to ensure that the distribution chain is not altered by any of the stakeholders in the distribution chain.
“We want to ensure that depot price of petroleum products is being maintained because government has not changed the price of petroleum products.
“End depot price of the product still remains at N128 to N133.28 per liter, so there is the margin on that and the pump price should not be more than N145 per liter,’’ he said.
On the allegation by some marketers that they are purchasing the products at higher rate and some of the products are not readily available at the depots, Enelama explained that the Federal Government, through the DPR, still distributes petroleum products, and there is enough to go round.
“There are several private depots that warehouse the product on behalf of the NNPC in the zone and DPR is already collaborating with various security agencies to ensure that defaulters who alter the chain of distribution and adjust their prices are arrested and made to face the law. (NAN)
