Following last weekend’s closure of multibillion naira tank farm belonging to Integrated Oil and Gas in Apapa, petroleum marketers, tanker drivers and NUPENG officials who operate at the tank farm have complained that the closure is already taking a negative toll on their businesses.
The petroleum marketers who spoke with Shipping Position Daily at the depot yesterday complained that several of their trucks have been locked inside the Integrated Oil and Gas facilities and that this has caused huge loses for their business in the past four days.
Following last weekend’s closure of multibillion naira tank farm belonging to Integrated Oil and Gas in Apapa, petroleum marketers, tanker drivers and NUPENG officials who operate at the tank farm have complained that the closure is already taking a negative toll on their businesses.
The petroleum marketers who spoke with Shipping Position Daily at the depot yesterday complained that several of their trucks have been locked inside the Integrated Oil and Gas facilities and that this has caused huge loses for their business in the past four days.
Our correspondent noted that many of the marketers hanging around in groups at the front of the depot gate, even as some NUPENG tanker drivers lamented that they have been stranded at the depot without entry and that they cannot go to another depot because they have already paid to the embattled oil company.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily, operations manager of Koka Global Petroleum limited, Mr. Kayode Azeez explained that each fully loaded truck of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) costs a whopping N3.5million and that four of his company's trucks had come in to load product last week Thursday when they were trapped inside the depot.
"As a petroleum company that is also into haulage business, our customers have been calling us that they need our trucks for business, but they have been tied down inside the depot, there is no work to do, look at our drivers, we are just hanging around and waiting for what them to sort it out" he lamented.
Another petroleum marketer, who spoke with our correspondent, Mr. Kazeem Olaide called for the indictment of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and other concerned agencies of government.
According to him, these agencies were the ones that gave the permission for the vessel "MT Grace" to discharge its product.
"Before a litre could be discharged at any tank farm, the appropriate authorities must be available, vis-a-vis the DPR, NNPC, NIMASA, Navy and so on, so for this reason they should be indicted as well, they gave the tank farm the go- ahead to receive the product".
"The owner of this depot is not the owner of the product, what they did here was that if you bring in your product and you want to make use of their tank farm, they will give you storage facility and you pay".
"I have paid for three trucks and they are still in there, if we had been able to load our products last week would have recovered our money, but the money is being tied down there and we don't get the product, we are definitely running at loss”, he lamented.
He noted that the event is coming at a time that the country is experiencing shortage of fuel. Olaide also observed that fuel scarcity has crept into Lagos State over the weekend and warned that, “if Lagos is affected, the whole Nigeria is affected".
Meanwhile, our correspondent also observed the presence of military officers of the maritime guard command under the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). They are still keeping the tank farm under lock and key.
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