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Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has warned operators of cooking gas skids in Ogun State to conform with the operations rules, safety guidelines and regulations of the Department or risk sanctions.
The Controller of Operations, Ogun State Field Office of the DPR, Mrs. Muinat Bello-Zagi, fired this warning on Thursday, while speaking with journalists, after a meeting with the Cooking Gas Skid Proprietors Association of Nigeria (CGSPAN), Ogun State Chapter.
Bello-Zagi explained that the Department, in the last two years, have been engaging gas skid operators and educating them on the need to conform with the laws and guidelines of operating a gas skid.
She said it was the aspiration of the Federal government to increase the domestic usage of gas within the country, but DPR would not compromise safety in the process of encouraging people to use gas as an alternative to kerosene.
She added that the Department had clamped down on illegal gas skid operators in the state and sealed quite a number of them, perceived to be very unsafe, declaring “we will continue to seal them if they continue to operate in an unsafe manner.”
Bello-Zagi, however, noted that the meeting with the gas skid operators would afford them the opportunity to avail themselves with the new guidelines of the DPR, insisting that the DPR would not hesitate to seal and prosecute any erring gas skid operator found to be violating its guidelines.
“We have been engaging them (gas skid operators) but we want to regularise their operations, we want it to be standardised in line with the aspiration of the government which is about increasing the domestic usage of gas within the country.
“We have decided to meet with them, educate them, create awareness and let them understand our guidelines and we want them to conform. We even went further to proffer some solutions to some of the issues they raised.
“The concern is the spacing requirement, all of them did not meet it and we said the spacing requirement is necessary because it will help to avert danger if there is leakage of gas. The spacing will help leaked gas to diffuse before it is ignited and our requirement for spacing is that, there must be 15 metres from the end of any tank of LPG to the boundary of any adjourning property and most of them said they are operating on very small pieces of land and we said no, that is not going to work, that is very unsafe,” she stated.
Also speaking with newsmen, Ogun State Chairman of CGSPAN, Surajudeen Adebisi Bada, appealed that DPR should amend the laws and guidelines for the gas skid operators, arguing that the same guideline and safety precautions that are used for gas plant operators cannot apply to gas skid operators.
“We have always been cooperating with them (DPR) but the problem that lies there is that we want the Department as a body to listen to us, to know that the skid operation is a new emergence in the scheme of things. The DPR is quoting 1969 Act of Parliament.
“Yes, they are rolling out regulations, but to say that a 2.5 tons skid is the same thing as a plant is not logical anywhere. Our point is that, a 2.5 tons capacity skid is not the same thing as those that are having 20 to 50 tons capacity and the same safety precautions cannot be taken. What we are saying is that DPR should involve a regulation for that sector (gas skid) of the industry,” Bada said.
