Eterna Plc, an integrated energy provider in the country is ramping up investments in the deployment of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) skids across some of its retail outlets in Nigeria, the company said in a statement.
This is a bid to support the effort of the Federal government to deepen the use of cooking gas in the country in line with the global energy transition goals, the company said.
Benjamin Nwaezeigwe the newly appointed Managing Director/Chief Executive Director of Eterna Plc, who was appointed to office in April 2022, said “The industry is moving toward CNG and LPG and as a company, we have started positioning ourselves for that.”
“We are deploying skids in our existing retail outlets across the country and we also hope to go into LPG storage in the near future,’’ he said.
Nwaezeigwe, further said that marketers were currently facing a myriad of challenges including lack of access to foreign exchange, high bank interest rates, challenges with the sourcing of products from NNPC, unavailability of vessels to transport white fuels to depots, increased prices of freight and volatility of the naira against the US Dollar.
According to him, this situation is worsened by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine which had created a crisis in the global oil and gas industry.
Nwaezeigwe called for the deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector to enable more investors to come in as well as lowering the barriers to entry, which will allow the establishment of modular refineries in strategic locations.
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In his opinion, these efforts will increase domestic refining capacity and resolve the supply challenges in the industry.
Eterna Plc posted a gross profit of N4.1 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2022, a figure which was 57.9 percent higher than the N2.6 billion gross profit recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
Nwaezeigwe said this was achieved on the back of increased operating activities, improved efficiency, staff dedication and a new energy in the organisation brought about by the new leadership vision.
Phoebean Ifeadi, the Executive Director, Corporate Services, Eterna Plc, said the company had invested more than N20 million in the past two years in donations and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.
On the current trend of energy transition, Abudukerimu Sule, the company’s CFO said Nigeria’s priority should be achieving energy security.
Noting that Africa ranks the least in energy consumption per capita, the CFO said it was imperative for both political and business leaders in Nigeria to collaborate with their counterparts in other African countries to ensure massive investment in energy within the African space in the most cost-effective way.
Eterna Plc plans to further increase its retail network across the country. It plans to actively play across the energy value chain covering the production, transportation, and distribution of energy solutions vital for economic growth and development.
