This was the new directive of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Wednesday during a meeting with depot owners at the DPR Warri Zonal Office, Delta State.
Deputy Director and Head, Downstream Monitoring and Regulations, Mrs Ijeoma Onyeri, led other management team of the regulatory agency to the meeting.
They were received by Mr Nicholas Ogbe and other staff of the zone on behalf of the Zonal Controller, Mr Antai Asouquo.
Onyeri said the development would help to address fire accidents in depots, adding that the visit was to ascertain the challenges and how the depots were fairing specifically in terms of safety compliance.
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She said that DPR was very much concerned about the issue of safety of personnel and facilities.
She advised the depot owners to ensure their security providers were trained by accredited DPR consultants.
Mrs Onyeri said that DPR was proposing a programme called “Minimum Safety Industry Training for Downstream.”
She added that details of capacity building would be communicated to them soon.
The director stated that every depot must key into the proposed training programme as it would also form part of the requirements for renewing their operational licences.
According to her, “Every depot must have fire truck to handle fire accident and must be stationed at the depot, this will now form part of the renewal of your operational licences.
“DPR takes safety and security very seriously to ensure that facilities and personnel are safe, so you are to train and retrain your personnel by DPR accredited consultants.
“It is mandatory requirements that depot must have Safety case and Oil Spill Contingency Plan Documents which must be displayed for DPR officials to see during inspections.”
Onyeri also advised depot owners to maintain the ex-depot price, shun diversion and hoarding of products, reiterating that hoarding of product was an infraction that attracts serious penalty.
Onyeri and her team later in the evening visited AYM Shafa Oil depot, Pinnacle Oil and Gas and Matrix Energy Ltd to inspect their facilities.
“To be candid, I am impressed with what I have seen on ground in these three Tank farms, the level of safety compliance is very impressive; they have met most of the DPR guidelines.
“In Matrix everything is automated, if there is any emergency, they have a control room where they can shutdown, I am really impressed,” she said.
Earlier, during presentation, the Chief Operating Officer of Matrix, Mr Luqman Salam-Alada said Escravos channel was the major source of their landing point.
He expressed hope that when it is dredged, it would help the company a lot.
Meanwhile, the Group Head, Health and Safety Environment of Matrix, Federick Olomoro, averred that the inspection audit by the regulators always gave the company an opportunity to improve.
“It is also an opportunity to tell our regulators how we are relating with our host communities, cordial relationship with the host communities is our top priority,” he said.
The team also visited Optimal Energy Group in Koko, Prudent Energy, Nepal and Rainoil depot on Thursday where the director also commended the owners on the level of safety compliance.
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