From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja and Chinwendu Obienyi, Lagos
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday officially opened the Pinnacle Oil and Gas FZE Terminal in Lekki, Lagos, stating that the facility’s activities had lowered costs and improved the distribution of petroleum products to many areas in the country while also easing traffic in the Apapa area of the state.
The president who did the commissioning virtually, in a video message at the inauguration of the facility, congratulated the Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, Peter Mbah, for establishing the massive terminal facility thereby providing hundreds of jobs to Nigerians.
Buhari noted that the investment is proof that his administration’s plan to rebuild the country’s economy is working.
He also said that the government anticipates making numerous further investments of similar areas.
The president, who stated this in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, reassured investors of the Federal Government’s ongoing support for measures to increase the nation’s burgeoning prosperity.
“Provision of energy security is one of the cardinal points of our administration.
“We have recognized that seamless supply and distribution of petroleum products is challenged by infrastructure deficit and complicated by the congestion in the Apapa areas of Lagos since the start of our administration in the year 2015.
“We provided targeted support to the energy industry by providing an enabling environment, including regulatory facilitation, to ensure investment in critical infrastructure.
“I am happy today that Pinnacle Oil and Gas limited leveraged the opportunities and established this massive terminal facility.
“I am happy to also note that further expansion works, which are starting will further provide incremental value, especially more employment to our teeming youth population,” he said.
President Buhari promised that the Federal Government would continue to encourage and support investors in utilizing the ongoing changes in the oil and gas sector as outlined in the Petroleum Industry Act to replicate the successes of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited.
Speaking at the event, Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, noted that the terminal is the first phase of a larger plan of the state government in creating an enabling environment for investors, adding that the facility would not only serve Nigeria, but has also been positioned to look at the opportunity of export on the West African corridor.
While thanking President Buhari for his support, Sanwo-Olu said that Lagos would continue to remain the commercial and logistics hub of the entire West African region.
He urged investors to invest in the Lekki FTZ, stating that the state government is willing to give them the enabling environment that would make their businesses thrive and ensure it contributes in the growing of GDP of the country.
Earlier in his goodwill message, the Group Managing Director, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, described the newly built facility as the largest exit point for petroleum products, pointing out that it has demonstrated capacity by easing delivery of petroleum products into account in many parts of the country.
Kyari also noted that the NNPCL would continue to partner with Pinnacle, other stakeholders, and investors even as it continues to provide energy security.
Speaking, the CEO of Pinnacle, Mr Mbah, expressed confidence that the terminal with a capacity of more than a billion liters would live up to its promise by having a favourable effect on the downstream oil and gas sector.
He stated that the ultra-modern, purpose-built petroleum products intake, offtake, and storage facility would make it easier to receive imported petroleum products efficiently, increase the nation’s overall energy security, and result in significant cost reductions at the pump.
In order to form the foundation of what will eventually grow to be Africa’s largest energy logistics hub, he disclosed that the company is already in advanced discussions with the Dangote Group about collaborations to supplement the operations of the nearby Dangote refinery, which would soon come on stream.
The energy chief thanked President Buhari, federal and state authorities, as well as the host community for their unflinching support in making the project, which commenced in 2011, a reality.
Describing the facility as a world-class petroleum terminal with the capacity to handle products in two directions both import and export, Mbah explained:
“Mother Vessels arriving at the facility will have the opportunity to berth at either of our two offshore berths. Either the Conventional Buoy Mooring (CBM), which is in 17m of water depth and can handle vessels of up to 120 million litres, or our Single Point Mooring (SPM), which is in about 23m of water depth and can handle vessel sizes of up to 200 million litres.
“These moorings are connected to our storage facilities by four networked pipelines of 40km total length.
“These pipe networks are designed to empty the vessels in a maximum of two days, a significant improvement on the previous duration which could take up to 30 days.
“Our shore tank farm is currently able to handle up to 300 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), as well as diesel or Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), and the facility is designed to permit rapid discharge into trucks for evacuation at a rate of up to 20 million litres per day.”
Mbah disclosed that the funding for the facility, which is over $1billion, was through a consortium of Nigerian banks.
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