The Department of Petroleum Resources, Lagos Zone, said on Friday that it sealed off 59 illegal cooking gas plants in the state from January to June this year.

The Assistant Director, Operations, DPR, Lagos Zonal Office, Mrs Olubunmi Ogundare, disclosed this during a surveillance operation she led in Alimosho Local Government Area of the state.

She said the affected Liquefied Petroleum Gas plants were sealed for not complying with the prerequisite safety standards and operating without pertinent approvals.

Eight gas plants located at Idimu, Ikotun-Egbe, Ipaja and Igando were sealed by the agency at the end of the operation.

Ogundare said the move was part of the agency’s oversight duty of monitoring activities of companies operating within the industry across the value chain.

She said the LPG plants were shut down for various reasons including operating within densely populated areas and other unapproved locations for gas business.

Ogundare said the surveillance, which she described as a continuous exercise, was aimed at curbing the proliferation of LPG facilities and ensuring safety of lives and property of Nigerians.

According to her, it will also help to sanitise LPG facilities in Lagos State by enforcing standards in their operations.

She said, “Those identified illegal LPG facilities contravened the DPR guidelines for the establishment of LPG refilling plants and retailers outlets in Nigeria.

“You cannot operate LPG plant without applying for pertinent approval from DPR. For you to get this approval, you must go through three phases which take place in stages from setting up the LPG facility, construction and commencement of operations.

According to Ogundare, the three approvals are site suitability, approval to construct and licence to operate.

“If you don’t have these pertinent approvals, you are not supposed to operate an LPG facility in Nigeria,” she said.

She also advised Nigerians to report any illegal and unsafe LPG facility within their locality to the DPR for the regulatory agency to take necessary action.