By Emerson Chukwuka
When the Nigerian National
Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd, then a corporation, set out in the year 2002 to
establish a petroleum products retail company as a Corporate Business Unit, it
had clear intentions and business objectives. One of such intentions was to
create access to quality white products and services for Nigerians from the
national oil company.
NNPC Retail commenced
operation on the 1st of January 2002. Its first outlet was acquired from Texaco
Nigeria Ltd at Ikoyi, Lagos. Its Abuja Mega Station commenced operation in
December 2002.
Today, NNPC Retail Ltd,
registered as a company in 2009, has over 900 stations ranging from Affiliate
Stations, Mega Stations, and Standard Stations to Leased Stations, Ultra-modern
Stations, and Floating Stations. These stations are spread from Nigeria to
Togo. The company plans to expand to other West African countries and in the
process become the leading petroleum products outlet company in the region. It
is about the only retail outlet in the country with 8 floating stations in the
Niger Delta region aimed at bringing quality petroleum products to residents of
the riverine communities who hitherto to travel several kilometres outside
their immediate abode to buy the products.
NNPC Ltd.’s acquisition of
the OVH Downstream Assets in the last quarter of 2022 was a step deliberately
taken to expand the footprint of NNPC Retail Ltd in the downstream and enhance
its mission of making quality products readily accessible to customers.
Speaking at the unveiling of one of the new NNPC Ltd stations in Abuja, the
Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, said, “The
acquisition will bring over 380 additional filling stations under NNPC Retail
brand in Nigeria and Togo, on our journey to attaining 1,500 stations. We will
be the largest petroleum product retail network in Africa.”
“NNPC has under an
Accelerated Network Expansion (ANEX) Initiative completed the acquisition of
OVH downstream assets including reception jetty (ASPM) with 240,000 metric tons
monthly capacity, eight Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) plants, three lubes
blending plants, three aviation depots, and 12 warehouses,” he said.
Speaking recently while appearing
before an Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives, Mr Kyari said the
acquisition was already yielding dividends with NNPC Retail raking in over
₦18.4 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2023 compared to N6.93 billion
made at the same period in 2022 prior to the acquisition.
NNPC Retail Limited, has
been on the trajectory of expansion and growth and has continued to be the
leading petroleum retail outlet in Nigeria. In its last released report, the
company raked in total revenue of N255.6bn by the third quarter of
2022.
“NNPC Retail Limited
achieved six per cent year-on-year increase in total white product sales,
₦255.6bn revenue, ₦15bn EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation,
and Amortisation) and ₦14.14bn profit as at Q3 (third quarter) 2022,” the
report stated.
The report stated that
NNPC Retail completed the construction of two standard stations in Kaduna and
Kano states and onboarded 71 new stations within the year.
Five of them were leased,
while 66 were affiliate stations. the company also completed phase one solar
power project with three stations in Borno, Bauchi and Nasarawa States and
carried out rehabilitation and facelift of 15 company-owned stations within the
network last year.
With the acquisition of the
OVH stations, the company has expanded its network in its desire to bring
quality white products and lube services to every nook and cranny of the
nation.
Across the nation, many
Nigerians have come to trust the NNPC Retail brand for its quality of products
and services. People travel kilometres to buy petroleum products from the NNPC
Retail outlets for various reasons. A consultant with one of the leading
consulting companies in Nigeria, who would not want his name in print said he
would rather purchase products from NNPC Retail outlets because he believed he
would be getting value for his money.
“I will rather buy my fuel
from an NNPC Retail station because I am sure I will be buying the correct
litre of petrol unlike some of these stations where they adjust their meters
and you buy less for your money value”, he said.
This is the testimony of
many people who have had the experience of purchasing their products from the
NNPC Retail stations.
Over the years, many
Nigerians have come to rate the delivery of NNPC Ltd objectives by the
availability of petroleum products in the country. Although, going by the array
of business activities NNPC Ltd carries out across the oil and gas value chain,
retailing of petroleum products is probably less than 10%, Nigerians would
always judge it by the availability or not of petroleum products at the pumps.
Hence, NNPC Retail is strategic to NNPC Ltd in its desire to meet the energy
needs of the people.
It is on record that NNPC
Retail pioneered the sale of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders and
partnered with LPG dealers to sell LPG across the country leading to greater
penetration of LPG use in the country. Today over 60 percent of petroleum
retail stations especially in the south of the country, have LPG sale-points.
Everyone can still remember the NNPC Ltd branded LPG cylinders which were
distributed and sold widely through NNPC Mega Stations. This exercise created
awareness on the use of LPG instead of firewood and provided guidance on the
safest way to use LPG. Today, the penetration of LPG use is very high
especially in parts of the south.
It is also important to
realise that NNPC Retail Ltd is key to meeting one of the roles that the
Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has placed on NNPC Ltd as the supplier of last
resort. What this means is that at any point in time when there is disruption
in the supply chain of petroleum products either by man-made acts or natural
disaster, it falls on the NNPC to ensure availability of products until such a
time when normalcy is restored. In such situations, the NNPC Retail outlets
could be the fastest means to get products to the populace going by their
spread, reliability, and the trust it enjoys among Nigerians.
This trust has been built
over time through quality services and products and immediate action taken to
remedy customers’ complaints or service failure where and when it
occurs.
Just recently, when the
news of some sharp practices by some fuel attendants at an NNPC Retail station
in Port Harcourt was trending in the social media, the company stepped in
immediately and resolved the situation by identifying the station and the
culprit and took immediate action to remedy the situation and assured customers
of their commitment to quality of products and services.
The action elicited a lot
of positive response from the populace who commended NNPC limited for the quick
response and assurances given to customers.
Going forward, NNPC Retail
Ltd, understandably, is looking forward to pioneering provision of charging
points for electric vehicles at its stations in the near future and providing
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as well as conversion of vehicles to the use of
CNG for interested car owners in line with the global decarbonisation
demands.
As the company is evolving
in its desire to serve the Nigerian people, it has continued to pioneer
emerging services to meet the needs of the people without compromising its
standing integrity as the major source of quality petroleum products and
services.
Emerson Chukwuka is an energy
expert and public affairs analyst and can be reached at:
emerschuks@hotmail.com.