President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday, commissioned the Pinnacle Oil and Gas FZE terminal at the Lagos Free Trade Zone in Lekki.
In a video address at the inauguration of the facility on Saturday, the president said the facility’s operations would ease congestion at the Apapa Port area and provide “hundreds of jobs”.
He added that,the terminal would reduce the cost of petroleum products distribution to many parts of the country.
In a statement by his spokeman,Femi Adesina,the president described the investment as a demonstration of the success of his administration’s agenda to transform the country’s economy adding that government looked forward to many more investments of the same magnitude.
Mr President also assured investors of the continued support of the federal government’s efforts at elevating the growing prosperity of the country.
“Provision of energy security is one of the cardinal points of our administration,” the president said.
“We have recognised that seamless supply and distribution of petroleum products is challenged by infrastructure deficit and complicated by the congestion at the Apapa Port area of Lagos since the start of our adminstration in 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 Ltd leveraged on the opportunities and established this massive terminal facility.”
The president also expressed hope that further expansion works which the company had since started would provide incremental value, especially more employment for youths.
“The success of our agenda to transform our country is demonstrated by this massive investment and the obvious contributions it has made to our overall economic well-being,’’ he added.
Buhari also promised that the federal government would continue to encourage and support investors to take advantage of ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector as stipulated in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and replicate the feats achieved by Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited.
He congratulated the Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited,Mr Peter Mbah, for establishing the massive terminal facility and providing hundred of jobs to Nigerians
In his remarks, Mbah expressed confidence that the terminal — with over one billion litres capacity would positively impact the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
Mbah noted that the ultra-modem purpose-built petroleum products intake, off-take and storage facility would facilitate the efficient receipt of imported petroleum products,improve general energy security in the country and trigger significant savings in costs of products at the pump.
Mba said the company was in advanced talks with nearby Dangote Refinery to form the nucleus of what would become Africa’s largest energy logistics hub.
He thanked the president, federal and Lagos state authorities as well as the host community for their support in making the project a reality.
Mbah said vessels arriving at the facility would have the opportunity to anchor at either of its two offshore berths.
“They can berth at our Conventional Buoy Mooring, which is in 17 metres of water depth and can handle vessels of up to 120 million litres,” he said.
“They can also berth at our Single Point Mooring, which is in about 23 metres 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 of up to 30 days.”
According to Mbah,”our shore tank farm is currently able to handle up to 300 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) as well as diesel or Automotive Gas Oil
He added that,the facility was designed to permit rapid discharge into trucks for evacuation at a rate of up to 20 million litres per day.
Mbah further disclosed that,the funding for the facility which is over $1billion, was through a Consortium of Nigerian banks.