By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Lack of huge investments that will create some efficiency in the supply and distribution value-chain of the downstream sector is the reason Nigeria has been witnessing unending scarcity of petroleum products especially the Premium Motor Spirits (PMS).
This revelation was made by Chief Peter Mba, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited while briefing State House Correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at Presidential Villa Abuja at the weekend.
According to Mba the only way to end the incessant fuel scarcity in the country is to have more investment in the downstream sub-sector, pointing out that such move
would completely eliminate the sort of scarcity Nigerians are witnessing today.
Said he: “There has been a deficit of the sort of investments Pinnacle has done in the last decades, but what we’re doing right now is to address that stagnation of investments in the downstream oil and gas industry.
“As you know, this is an investment size of about $1 billion. So we are expecting to see more of such investments because what the Pinnacle has done is to create some efficiency in the supply and distribution value-chain of the downstream sector.
“So we are indeed expecting that more investment in the downstream sub-sector would completely eliminate the sort of scarcity you are witnessing today”.
On why he was in Aso Rock Villa, Mba who is also the Governorship candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu state in the March 2023 elections said: “we, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, have come here today (weekend) to express our profound gratitude and our heartfelt appreciation to Mr. President.
“You will recall that on the 22nd day of October, 2022, Mr. President inaugurated our storage terminal, adjudged to be the largest storage terminal in West Africa, with offshore intake facilities also adjudged to be the deepest intake facility in the entire Africa, sitting at a water depth of 23 meters.
“So we do have SPM and CBM. Those are the offshore facilities we have. Those facilities have the capability to in-take the largest vessels you can imagine and discharge over 100 million liters of clean petroleum products within 24 hours. This is typically what takes the industry 30 to 32 days to discharge.
“So we have largely come here today to express our gratitude to Mr. President for the honour he gave us in inaugurating this largest facility, which has actually changed the face of the industry, because it has eased, as you know, this facility is located at the Lekki Free Zone, just by the Dangote Refinery.
“So what it has done, it has ease the congestion and the gridlock we have at the Apapa area in Lagos. It has also reduced the costs of supply and delivery of petroleum products in different parts of the country. It has also provided jobs for teeming unemployed Nigerians”.
“So this is why we thought it necessary to come and say thank you to Mr. President”.
