Nigeria: Eterna Oil Resurfaces in Abuja, Opens Mega Station

Tag : lubricating oil
Nigeria: Eterna Oil Resurfaces in Abuja, Opens Mega Station After several years in limbo due to some unforeseen circumstancesthat caused a nose-dive of its operations, Eterna Oil Plc hasresurfaced in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with the officialopening of its Wuye district flagship petroleum products retailcomplex
Eterna Oil, a quoted public limited integrated energy outfit,engages in the manufacturing and sale of lubricating oils,importation and bulk oil as well as retail sale of petroleumproducts, including automotive gas oil (AGO), or diesel; premiummotor spirit (PMS), or petrol, base oils, bitumen, export oflubricants, bunkering, gas distribution and marketing, among otherservices. The company said it was repositioning its operations inresponse to the competitive challenges in the nation´spetroleum industry.
Arising from its technical trading relationship with BP-Castrol,Eterna Oil blends and supplies Castrol marine lubricants to thelocal fishing and shipping industry.
Eterna Oil entered the Nigerian market in 1991, before securing apart funding package from the International Finance Corporation(IFC) in 1996 to build the first Castrol certified 35,000 metrictonnes capacity lube blending plant in sub-saharan Africa at Sagamuinterchange. The company became a public limited company (PLC) in1998.
A major draw back for the company´s operations was itsinvolvement between 2001 and 2003 in the controversial acquisitionof African Petroleum (AP) together with Sadiq Petroleum as co-coreinvestor. The transaction was a flop, thus throwing it into afinancial spin and distress, which claimed its major revenue assets(stations) in Abuja and Lagos There was a ray of hope for thecompany´s recovery when in 2005 it began restructuring andrepositioning its operations, which led to its winning theprestigious Pearl award in 2006 for achieving the highest turnovergrowth amongst publicly quoted companies.
During the recent commissioning of the Abuja mega station, Chairmanof the company, Ade Ojo, said the retail outlet has been designedas a one-stop shop for the provision of services beyond merefueling of cars, adding that there is programme to replicate thestation in key business areas nationwide.
Managing Director of Pipeline Products Marketing Company (PPMC), asubsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)incharge of marketing and distribution of petroleum products,Reginald Stanley, called on the Ministry of the Federal CapitalTerritory to allocate more prime lines to the territory for theestablishment of more filling stations in the area. According toStanley, there are only 65 filling stations in Abuja, whereas over100 stations are required to effectively service the area.
Managing Director of Eterna Oil, Ibrahim Boyi, in his address saidthe company has grown from nil retail outlets to at least 15distribution outlets spread across the country, with plans to openmore outlets before the end of the year. "Our strategy for retailnetwork business is to launch our stations in carefully selectedlocations and ensure that our stations offer not only fuels, butcater for other customers´ conveniences, such as bankingservices, car care, eatery and supermarkets. We aim to provide aone stop shop for our customer´s convenience," he stated.
Posted / Last update 09-10-2008