MRS Oil Nigeria Plc on Saturday inaugurated Dantata Jetty, a terminal, which has the capacity to berth vessels of 80,000 – 120,000 metric tonnes capacity, at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.
The facility said to be the first of its kind in Africa can monitor the loading of every drop of petroleum product in computers.
Minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, said with the computerisation scheme in the facility, the company can monitor loading from anywhere in the world.
Kachikwu said he had a similar vision for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and advised the nation’s oil firm to adopt similar computerisation scheme to reduce losses in its operations.
“That is fantastic; it is important that we get the NNPC to align with this strategy to reduce losses,” Kachikwu said.
“Sayyu (chairman of MRS Oil) heard this and took the decision on this facility.”
Commending MRS, Kachikwu said the acquisition of Chevron Oil had transformed the company from a small firm to a global one.
He said the federal government had the responsibility of improving the ease of doing business to ensure the success of businesses like MRS Oil.
Minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, said MRS Oil deserved commendation “not only for the size, the capacity – the audacity really of what MRS has done but also because it was done by a Nigerian company.”
Fashola said the current administration remained committed to supporting local investors such as MRS and others.
“Congratulations that this investment has come to maturity at a most auspicious time – barely a week after Mr President launched the economic recovery programme and one of the priority actions in that programme out of the 60 interventions is strengthening our capacity towards self-sufficiency in energy supply,” Fashola said.
Fashola pledged to electrify the corridor and build transmission lines because the area is an important investment corridor and behind it is tourism.
Okechukwu Enelamah, minister of industry, trade and investment, said the federal government was committed to improving the country’s global ranking in the ease of doing business to attract investors.
He said Nigeria should not think that her environment is unique in terms of doing business because investors, including local ones have other choices.
“We live in a world where we are part of the global community. Nigerians should not think that their environment is unique in attracting business because investors have other destinations. So, we must improve our global ranking,” Enelamah said.
Earlier in his welcome address, Sayyu Dantata, chairman of the company, said the jetty would save the country the expenses incurred in ship-to-ship (STS) transfer, as well as demurrage, which he estimated at over $200 million yearly.
He said before the construction of the jetty, the company could only bring small vessels of 10,000 – 30,000 metric tonnes capacity to berth and discharge products at the depot.
Sayyu said with the completion of the jetty, a vessel of 60,000MT capacity is already at the facility, adding that the capacity is equivalent to six vessels of 10,000MT tones each.
“We have gone out to the sea 34 metres. We save costs for the country in terms of STS (ship-to-ship) transfer,” he said.
“This vessel is equivalent to six vessels of 10,000MT each and it shows that Nigerians can do great things. For the first time in Africa, 60,000MT vessel berth today and it has never happened anywhere in Africa. What we normally use to do operations is between 10,000MT and 30,000MT.”