UNJUSTIFIED CLOSURE OF TOTAL IBAFON DEPOT BY DPR

On Thursday 5th November 2015, personnel of the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) visited Total Nigeria Plc Ibafon Depot at about 1.45 p.m. along with members of the press.The depot was closed by Department of Petroleum Resources on the allegation that Total Nigeria Plc was hoarding Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) due to the absence of loading at the time of visit to Total depot, Ibafon.

Total Nigeria Plc would like to clearly state that it is against its core values and ethics code to engage in the hoarding of petroleum products. Therefore this allegation was wrong and unjust and the facts of the matter are as follows:

• On the 5th of November 2015, loading activities at the Ibafon depot commenced after the sanitation exercise; Seventeen (17) trucks were programmed and assigned destinations as filled in the DPR coupon which were equally approved for loading by the DPR representative in Ibafon.
• At the time DPR officials were at the depot, access to the depot from the truck park was blocked, and trucks were unable to gain access to the depot. Total personnel on ground were making efforts to liaise with the security agents and Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD) to ensure that the road into Total Ibafon depot got cleared. This was to enable programmed trucks gain entrance to load products. The Total personnel that was to attend to the DPR officials was working with the PTD VIO to create access for our trucks to the depot, and was over 2 Kilometers away from the depot, hence wasnot available to attend to the DPR officials at that point in time. Therefore, the closure of our Ibafon Depot was due to a misconstruction of the situation.
• The facts concerning Total Nigeria Plc product supply and distribution operations in the past weeks after extended periods of product outage are that the company completed the reception of:
  1. 25, 311 Metric Tons of PMS in Apapa Terminal 1 and Joint Venture Depots on 2nd November 2015.
  2. 11, 228 Metric Tons of PMS in Port Harcourt Depot on 2nd November, 2015.
  3. 10, 063 Metric Tons of PMS in Ibafon Depot on the 3rd of November, 2015
• As soon as these ships had discharged, Total Nigeria Plc started to load out the product at full capacity to its retail outlets in order to meet the demands of the Nigerian public. On the day in question, Total was loading PMS at both our Apapa and Port Harcourt Depots and trucks were lined up for loading at our Ibafon depot. In the last 5 days, we have loaded 24 million litres from our Apapa, Port Harcourt and Ibafon depots combined. This PMS has been distributed to our stations nationwide and sold to the public at N87 per litre.

TOTAL Nigeria Plc is a subsidiary of The TOTAL Group - a World-Class Group of Oil, Gas and Chemical Companies, with operations in more than 130 Countries. In Nigeria, we distribute Petroleum Products lifted from different petroleum storage facilities across the nation owned wholly or in part by the Company, from Government (refineries), or third parties.

The decision by DPR to close our depot was unjust and unwarranted and Total management has since visited DPR management to clarify the situation. We state unequivocally that we remain committed to working with the relevant agencies to support government efforts in ensuring availability of petroleum products. TOTAL Nigeria Plc as a Corporate Citizen of Nigeria has always operated within the ambits of the Laws of the country and in line with international best practices. We would like to clearly state that it is against our core values and ethics to engage in the hoarding of petroleum products. We do not hoard products, and this can be further buttressed by the fact that all our stations sell PMS at N87 per litre nationwide. We assure the Nigerian public and relevant agencies of our total commitment and continued cooperation.

SIGNED BY MANAGEMENT
TOTAL NIGERIA PLC

For further information 
Email  the Corprate Affairs Department on [email protected]  or Call 0800CALLTOTAL.