The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State Council, has decried the absence of a licensed laboratory by the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, saying that the situation is forcing marketers out of business in the state.

The chairman of NOGASA, Sam Osung, who made this known in a statement on Friday, said whenever petroleum products intercepted by security agencies were subjected to analysis, the process took days because of the absence of a hydrocarbon laboratory.

He added that by the time a certified quality was out, the supplier would have lost his call out from the purchasing company.

While lamenting the situation and warning that it was capable of causing artificial scarcity and breakdown of industrial activities, Osung called on the government to urgently think about setting up a hydrocarbon laboratory in the state.

He said, “It is a sad reality that there’s no NMDPRA licensed laboratory in Akwa Ibom to aid and ensure speed in the investigation of quality by the security agencies. This I consider an unfortunate situation.

“The suppliers are losing their capital and running into debts; most of us are running out of business, and most industrial organisations halt their operations as a result of the delay in the supply of petroleum products.

“Security agencies will intercept products they feel should be subjected to parameter analysis, the analysis process takes days because we don’t have a hydrocarbon laboratory in the entire Akwa Ibom, so they send the sample to places like Port Harcourt, Enugu, and other places outside Akwa Ibom.”

“By the time the certificate of quality is out, the supplier has already lost his call out from the purchasing company, most of the parameters depreciate in quality, the quantity reduces as a result of evaporation, and the price eventually drops from maybe N1,500 to about N1,400, depending on foreign exchange and other factors regulating the price.

“That N100 difference multiplied by about 50,000 litres being a full truck runs into millions of naira. How about the haulage fee because the truck is hired from a different company altogether?

“And the security agencies will release the product after that process and no one talks about the differential. This is a matter of concern. This is capable of causing artificial scarcity and breakdown of industrial activities as well as price hikes, therefore making the end users (the common man) the end losers,” he added.

Source- Punch Newspaper.