Follow Us on Google
By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Group Managing Director of Rainoil Limited, Mr. Gabriel Ogbechie, has said that the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol in Nigeria (N175/litre) is well below the global average of N586.66 per litre,
Nigerians are currently paying only 30 per cent of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol cost.
Ogbechie stated this in his presentation at National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC) annual conference titled ‘‘Energy Transition: The PIA and Petroleum Pricing, Way forward for the Downstream Industry’’ which held recently in Lagos.
The Rainoil boss warned that the cost of subsidising a single product was no longer sustainable.
He lamented that N1.55 trillion was spent on fuel subsidy between January and June 2022(39 per cent of the N4 trillion 2022 fuel subsidy budget).
The downstream investor maintained that the country stands to save over 12 trillion Naira, which could be channeled to other areas of development for the country if the downstream sector is fully deregulated
He called on government to not only deregulate but also initiate a petrol tax to fund maintenance and construction of critical infrastructure across the country
Speaking on the vexed conversation around fuel subsidy removal, he noted that Nigerians are not adverse to subsidy removal, but noted that petrol consumers only want some level of reassurance on the subject matter and some cushioning effects by government.
He also noted that the Petroleum Industry Act remains the silver bullet in growing the downstream sector, but decried the huge sum expended on fuel subsidy so far.
Ogbechie noted that the subject issue of deregulation has come to stay, as a policy direction for the downstream petroleum sector, given the enormous benefits that comes with a deregulated petroleum environment .
On the contribution of his company to the development of the downstream sector, he said Rainoil Limited presently has over forty LPG trucks with retail outlets scattered across the country.
“As a prominent player in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, Ogbechie said the company’s operations cut across the downstream value chain including petroleum product storage, haulage/distribution and retail sales. The company’s primary products he disclosed included petrol (PMS), Diesel (AGO), kerosene (DPK) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).’’
According to him, the company which started about 25 years from the scratch, today had been built to be one of the very prominent and very dominant players in the downstream sector of the Nigeria oil and gas industry.
“Today, Rainoil Limited holds a 50million litres capacity of petroleum deport. We own another 50million litres capacity petroleum deport in Calabar, Cross River State. We own yet another 50million litres capacity deport in Lagos State. “Again, we own an 8000MT liquefied petroleum gas facility also in Lagos state.
‘’We have little more than 100 petrol stations spread across the country. We are also heavily into logistics. We have more than 150 tank trucks that distribute petroleum products across the country,” he said.
Ogbechie added that the company had provided direct employment to about 1,200 Nigerians.
