At Aso Rock, Pinnacle Oil & Gas Boss Recommits to Energy Security

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After the inauguration of Pinnacle Oil & Gas’ massive $1bn FZE Terminal facility in Lekki, Lagos, by President Muhammadu Buhari, late last year, Peter Mbah, the energy conglomerate’s boss visits Aso Rock to express gratitude and recommit to Nigeria’s energy security, Louis Achi writes

Sharply attuned to the emerging challenges and unfolding developments in the global energy sector, Dr. Peter Mbah, Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil & Gas Limited, is clearly determined that Nigeria must not only ride out the disruptions but maintain a commanding industry leadership role on the continent.

Much of this bold position was captured when he recently visited the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with the board of Pinnacle Oil & Gas Ltd, to pay a courtesy call on President Muhammadu Buhari and as well express his heartfelt gratitude to a leader whose policy footing is a key spur to the breakthroughs the energy conglomerate has registered in recent years.

Assessing the current product supply challenges, Dr. Mbah who is also the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State stated that inadequate investment in the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry was responsible for the perennial fuel scarcity.

He noted that Pinnacle Oil & Gas has, on its part, invested about $1bn to address the sluggish pace of investment in the downstream sector. “So, we are indeed expecting that more investment in the downstream subsector would completely eliminate the sort of scarcity we are witnessing today,” he told State House correspondents shortly after his company’s board of directors paid a thank-you visit to President Buhari in Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, recently.

The Pinnacle Oil & Gas board Chairman, Emir of Bichi, Nasiru Ado Bayero, led the delegation to the State House. Further according to Dr. Mbah, his company’s intervention and investments from other Nigerians in the downstream sector would lessen the frequency of fuel scarcity.

His words: “There has been a deficit in the set of investments Pinnacle has done in the last decades. But what we’re doing right now is to address that stagnation of investment in the downstream oil and gas industry. This is an investment size of about $1bn. 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 subsector would completely eliminate the sort of scarcity we are witnessing today.”

Dr. Mbah who explained that Pinnacle’s board and the management team came to appreciate Mr. President and express their deep gratitude for inaugurating the company’s over $1bn product storage terminal in October.

Hear him: “We, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, have come here to express our profound gratitude and our heartfelt appreciation to Mr. President. You will recall that on October 22, 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 entire Africa, sitting at a water depth of 23 meters.”

“In inaugurating this large facility located at the Lekki Free Zone just by the Dangote Refinery which has actually changed the face of the industry, Mr. President indeed honoured us,” he enthused.

It could be recalled that on October 22, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari officially inaugurated the gigantic Pinnacle Oil & Gas FZE Terminal in Lekki, Lagos. Coming at a period when Nigeria, the ECOWAS region and Africa stand on the brink of substantial disruptions as well as considerable opportunity as new energy and economic models challenge traditional templates, the commissioning of this ground-breaking energy project by the president himself couldn’t have come sooner.

Justifiably sharing in the glow of the big-ticket project, President Buhari while noting the investment is emblematic of his administration’s plan to rebuild the country’s economy explained his government expects to make numerous further investments of similar magnitude.

Congratulating the elated Dr. Mbah, for establishing the large terminal facility which is providing hundreds of jobs to Nigerians, the President noted 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 high-density cosmopolitan Lagos State.

Hear Mr. President: “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.”

President Buhari also promised his administration 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 & Gas Limited.

An equally elated Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, had noted at the inauguration event 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.

On his part, 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, underlining it has demonstrated capacity by easing delivery of petroleum products to many parts of the country. On this account, pledged NNPCL would continue to partner with Pinnacle Oil & Gas, other stakeholders, and investors even as it continues to provide energy security.

The unassuming CEO of Pinnacle Oil & Gas, 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 Mbah disclosed 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. On the critical funding front, Mbah disclosed that financing for the facility, which is over $1billion, was through a consortium of Nigerian banks.

In Mbah’s words: “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.”

Dr. Mbah’s recent visit to the Presidential Villa to acknowledge the administration’s energy sector policy positives and express gratitude is seen by industry analysts as an important step in the right direction.