The acting Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr Ahmad Shakur, has highlighted the need to change the trajectory of the downstream subsector of the nation’s oil and gas industry.

Shakur said it was critical to employ technology to solve some of the myriad challenges besetting the subsector.

He said, “The story of the downstream oil and gas sub-sector in Nigeria can sometimes read like a dirge; of stunted growth, broken dreams and unrealised ambitions.

“It is also a story of decrepit facilities, of refineries that exist only in name, of broken transportation lines, and, until recently, of supplies that come in fits and starts but it is a story we need to tell so all hands would be on deck to bring the necessary improvements.”

Shakur told the participants at the 13th Oil Trading and Logistics Conference in Lagos that the DPR was happy to engage in discussions and actions that would reposition the downstream subsector.

He said, “How do we make the downstream subsector more robust than it presently is? Nigeria has a population of 190 million people; how do we connect this stupendous population numbers to our sizeable hydrocarbon resources and in ways to create jobs and grow internal value addition?

“How do we do away with the story of being a major oil producing country and a major importer of petroleum products?”

The DPR boss said that the Lagos Zonal Office of the agency held its 2019 Annual General Meeting with depot owners, transporters  and marketers to look at ways to reorganise and retool their system to ensure a safer transportation system and stem the rising tide of road accidents of petroleum tankers.

He said, “One of the recommendations from that meeting is that we should immediately institute measures to ensure return to the era of 33,000 litres maximum load from the depots, because apart from endangering lives and properties, overladen tankers are also endangering the lifespan of our roads.

“The other recommendation is that petrol tankers should now be fitted with valves that would prevent spillage in event of roll over.

Think of it, if we had that, the recent inferno at Onitsha, arising from spillage from a petroleum tanker would not have happened. The 2018 incident on Otedola Bridge and many other fire incidents caused by truck roll-over might also have been averted.”

According to Shakur, product haulage by road is even a less desirable method.