Member companies of the Association of Petroleum Depots and Products Traders of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) say they have extended loading hours at their depots and outlets until the current fuel shortage normalises.
Dame Winifred Akpani, president of DAPPMAN, made it known in a statement issued Wednesday in Lagos.
She sympathized with DAPPMAN customers and the public about the current difficulties they face following the importation of some quantities of off-spec Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) into the country.
Akpani said: “DAPPMAN assures all our dear customers and the general public that all hands are on deck.
“DAPPMAN warehouses and points of sale have started, within the limits of safety and security allowed, extended hours of loading from our various warehouses and in all our points of sale until the situation normalizes.
“We believe that with the support and cooperation of all stakeholders, including Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Ltd. and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the current challenges of purchasing gasoline from our various outlets retailers will be finished.
“DAPPMAN urges the buying public to kindly desist from panic buying as some PMS stock has been received for distribution to our retail outlets and other interested and willing registered retailers.”
According to her, more boats loaded with fuel have continued to arrive in the country to remedy the situation.
Akpani said: “We have worked assiduously with regulatory authorities from the beginning to reduce further distribution of off-spec fuel at all DAPPMAN depots and retail stores.
“DAPPMAN also seconded versatile professionals to established Technical and Commercial Committees and stakeholders who have initiated best practice ‘Standard Operating Procedures’.
“This is to ensure that off-spec products are quarantined, professionally processed, tested and certified as good for distribution to the market.
“We are also working with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., through its subsidiary, PPMC Ltd., to ensure that adequate supplies of ‘on-spec’ gasoline are available to Nigerians in every nook and cranny of the nation. .
