The Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has on Saturday commissioned the Pinnacle Oil and Gas Terminal in Lekki, Lagos, despite instigations by some nefarious strains earlier entreating the president not to commission the project.

According to reports, the president did not only  commission the project but he also applauded  the Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, Peter Mbah, for establishing the enormous terminal facility and providing hundreds of jobs to Nigerians.

He went on to explain that the operations of the facility have in effect decongested the Apapa area terminal, reduced cost of delivery of petroleum product distribution to many parts of our country.

The President also ascribed the investment to the success of his administration’s agenda to transform the nation’s economy, adding that the government looks forward to many more investments of this magnitude.

This generally implies that the plans of the cohorts in the guise of “Enugu state lawyers for good governance” who wrote to the president earlier asking him to avoid the commissioning of the project, did not see the light of day.

In a press release made public by Femi Adesina the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity it was noted that the President said that the provision of energy security is one of the cardinal points of his administration. He also assured investors of the continued support of the Federal Government in efforts to elevate the growing prosperity of the country.

In his words;
”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.

”The success of our agenda to transform our country is clearly demonstrated by this massive investment and the obvious contributions it has made to our overall economic well-being.”

The CEO of Pinnacle Oil in response expressed confidence that the terminal with over one billion litre-capacity will fulfil its promise by positively impacting the downstream oil and gas industry.

The Energy guru expressed profound appreciation to President Buhari, Federal and State authorities as well as the host community for their firm support in making the project, which commenced in 2011, a reality.

Mbah, however, revealed that the funding for the facility, which is over $1billion, was gotten through a consortium of Nigerian banks.

Mbah further explained that the ultra-modern purpose-built petroleum products intake, off take and storage facility will 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.

In his 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.”

Mbah, in describing the facility as a world class petroleum terminal with the capacity to handle products in two directions both import and export, revealed that the company is already in advanced discussions with the Dangote group regarding collaborations to complement the operations of the nearby Dangote refinery which is soon to come on stream, with a view to forming the nucleus of what will become Africa’s largest energy logistics hub.