CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural resources of which petroleum products play a major role. At present, Nigeria is the ninth world producer and sixth world exporter of crude oil. On the domestic economy, the petroleum sector generates over 90% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, and provides employment in various forms to Nigerians . In addition, the tremendous growth in oil earnings has influenced significantly Nigeria’s international relations, and sometimes the politics of oil has taken centre stage in the nation’s history of international relations in the last few decades. [1] observed that after almost half a century of oil exploration in Nigeria, the oil industry is earning a mature status in comparison to other industries in the country such that significant progress has been made in terms of oil exploration and sale of crude oil abroad. Unfortunately, the domestic management of petroleum resources such as fuel is fraught with a number of problems. There are occasional product shortages, inefficient product distribution and contending pump price of petrol.
These problems are compounded by ethnic and civil disturbances in the Nigeria-Delta oil producing areas. This situation sometimes leads to destruction and vandalization of oil pipelines, disturbances in operation of the oil explorations and damage to life and properties. Over the years, the supply of petroleum products, mainly white products into the Nigeria market has been through the private and public organizations. The public organizations are the government agents and functionaries such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) and Pipeline Product and Marketing Company (PPMC) while the private sectors are the indigenous and foreign organizations. The indigenous sector was introduced in 1978 with more than 20 private independent marketers after a year of operations. The foreign (major) oil marketers operating in the country are Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, MRS Nigeria Plc, Total Nigeria Plc, Con oil Plc, Oando Nigeria Plc and African Petroleum Plc.

1.1 Theoretical Background

The technology used to implement the system is database technology. An interface is created using Visual BASIC 6.0 programming language and is connected to the database using adodc control tool. The source code that can be used to query the database for lifting entries of petroleum product for a particular date is shown below:
Private Sub Command2_Click()
Adodc1.Recordset.Filter = “ARRIVAL_DATE =’” & Text1.Text & “‘”
End Sub
Fig 1.1: Arrival Entries database

1.2 Statement of Problem

Fuel oil distribution companies service their customers with fuel. The problems are:

1. It is difficult to accurately keep record of the distribution details of the tanker lorries and to know the sales per day, number of litres sold so as to determine when to re-order for more fuel in the filling station.
2. Most customers that demand for the product do not get it on time because of poor management of fuel order and occasional shortages.
3. Also, it is difficult to instantly get report of the details of fuel dispensed daily,
4. The manual system of recording the litres sold at the end of the day is still in use as there is no computerized system to solve this problem.
5. Most filling stations run out of fuel because they cannot track down quickly the number of litres sold, thereby making them to run out of the product without knowing.

It is in view of these problems that this research study is carried out.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to design and implement a computerized fuel dispenser system. The following are the specific objectives:

• To develop a database system that will keep record of fuel received in the filling station.
• To track down the litres sold daily and total amount
• To develop a system that will enable management of the filling station to know when they should order for more fuel.
• To develop a system that will aid easy updating and reporting of fuel dispensing record.

1.4 Significance of the Project

The significance of the study is that it will enable the management of AP filling station to easily manage their fuel dispensing record. It will save time and promote smooth running of the filling station by enabling them to monitor their fuel supply level. This will ensure that they always have fuel to service their customers. The study will also serve as a useful reference material to other researchers seeking for related information on the subject.

1.5 Scope of the Study

This study covers the design and implementation of a computerized fuel dispenser system, using AP filling station, calabar as a case study. It is limited to keeping record of fuel dispensing records such as lifting of petroleum product, arrival of petroleum product and daily sales records.
 

1.6 Organization of the Research

This research work is organized into five chapters. Chapter one is concerned with the introduction of the research study and it presents the preliminaries, theoretical background, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.
Chapter two focuses on the literature review, the contributions of other scholars on the subject matter is discussed.
Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design. It presents the research methodology used in the development of the system, it analyzes the present system to identify the problems and provides information on the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed system. The system design is also presented in this chapter.
Chapter four presents the system implementation and documentation, the choice of programming language, analysis of modules, choice of programming language and system requirements for implementation.
Chapter five focuses on the summary, constraints of the study, conclusion and recommendations are provided in this chapter based on the study carried out.