Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The management of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd has refuted the claim that its facility in Lekki warehouses substandard petrol.
The company is reacting to the allegation raised by the Dangote Refinery against it.
According to Pinnacle Oil and Gas, its Lekki terminal is a world-class refined products terminal with designs and approvals for over 1 billion litres of storage capacity, of which over 300 million litres of storage are already in place, receiving products from a Single Point Mooring (SPM) facility and a Conventional Buoy Mooring (CBM) facility, both of which are connected to our storage via a network of over 40km of deep-sea pipelines.
“This facility is equipped to both receive or export refined products in a very efficient manner that reduces handling costs and loading time.
“Our facility has been in operation since 2021 and has during this period, proven to be the most efficient refined products handling facility in the country. It provides services not only to Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, but also to numerous market players in the Nigerian petroleum industry. It is well known that this facility saves the country a huge amount in forex denominated handling costs compared to what obtains in competing facilities across the country.
“The facility is not a refinery and is not even a substitute for a refinery. It is rather a wonderful complement to any refinery, by providing them additional options for product storage and expanded channels for efficient products dispatch across the country either by vessel or by truck.
“To be more specific, a connection between our facility and the Dangote refinery would immediately put at the refinery’s disposal additional storage and additional distribution channels, reducing the need for trucks to queue endlessly waiting to load at the refinery, and allowing more efficient load out to buyers who may opt to convey their products by sea to other inland markets like Warri, Port Harcourt or Calabar saving the significant costs of overland distribution” the company added.
Pinnacle Oil added that it was in line with that that it entered discussions with Dangote Refinery and jointly executed a pipeline interconnection agreement in 2022, which would facilitate the development of a pipeline to facilitate the efficient distribution of their products across the country.
“The agreement is still in place, and we are yet to be informed of any change in Dangote’s appetite regarding the project.
“This model of connection between refinery and storage terminals is not our invention, rather it is a time tested and proven model operating across the world in other Petroleum hubs such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, Ulsan (South Korea) and the like. These hubs host multiple refineries and multiple terminals such as Pinnacle’s. This is what informs our view that the Lekki hub requires not even just one Terminal like Pinnacle’s, but rather 3 or more, and perhaps even more refineries in the future.
“Regarding the allegation that our facility blends substandard products, we reject the notion in its entirety once more. In any case, it is well known to all persons knowledgeable on the Nigerian oil industry, that there are clear standards for petroleum products either imported or locally refined, and there are eminently qualified regulators charged with the responsibility of enforcing these standards,” the company said.
Our operations have always met those standards and will continue to do so. Our facilities have also always been open to these regulators for inspection and monitoring, and that will not change in the future”, the company said.