Geographies of fuel dispensing: locational analysis and conformity of petrol filling stations (PFS) to planning standards in Ota, Nigeria

Abstract

Following the observation of the indiscriminate location of petrol filling stations, this study analyzes the location pattern and conformity of the PFS to planning standards in Ota, Ogun State. A survey of petrol filling stations in Ota was conducted to achieve the twin purposes of taking inventory and documenting their geographic coordinates. A nearest neighbour analysis was used to compute the nearest neighbor index, the Z-score, and the probability (p) value in order to determine the pattern of the distributions. Buffer and proximity analysis was done in Arcmap to analyze the conformity of PFS to the planning standard. The findings revealed that there are 50 PFS located along the 15 roads in the study area, of which 72% are owned by independent marketers, 18% are owned by major marketers, and 10% are owned by the NNPC. The spatial analysis of petrol filing stations indicates that PFS were more concentrated on the major roads, in the transitional residential zones, and in the Central Business Districts. With a nearest neighbor index (Rn) value of 0.405547 (less than 1), a Z-value of −10.171697 (less than −1.96), and a p value of 0.00000, the distributional pattern of PFS revealed that the pattern was clustering. The study finds only 16% complied with the 400 m distance to the next filling station; more than two-thirds (78%) of the petrol filling stations did not meet the 15 m setback requirement; and only 10% met the 50 m distance requirement to residential buildings. Among other recommendations, the study suggests the need for more proactiveness and effectiveness from the regulatory agencies.