‘Deregulate downstream sector for competitive pricing, quality’

The Managing Director, Petrocam Trading Nigeria Limited, Patrick Ilo, has called on managers of the nation’s economy to deregulate the downstream sector of the oil and gas sector, noting that this is will aid competitive pricing and quality of petroleum products.

Ilo at the official inauguration of its ninth solar powered and tenth filling station in Lagos, explained that the total deregulation of the downstream sub-sector of the nation’s oil and gas industry will also bring to an end, the perennial problems hindering the smooth operations of the sub-sector.

He recommended that the federal government creates a level playing ground for operators in the industry, maintaining that the government must surrender any form of interference for the sector to thrive.

In his words, “For the downstream sector to survive, the federal government must deregulate the downstream sector. The government has to surrender its interference and create a level playing ground for everybody. This will be to the advantage to all the players in the industry because prices will differ and services will abound. For the downstream to be competitive in terms of pricing, quality and consumerism the answer is to deregulate the sector.”

He said the commissioning was to domicile and spot its brand in every local government in the State, pointing out that plans are underway to reach about 57 Local Community Development Areas (LCDAs) of Lagos.

“In every local government, you will see Petrocam providing quality service through its one-stop shop for petroleum products such as LPG, PMS, diesel, lubricants, lube bay and other services. We want to give value in retail distribution as nobody has done before in terms of ambience, aesthetics, credibility, honesty and integrity,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, the Assistant Admin Manager, Petrocam Trading Nigeria Limited, Omolara Sunmola, added that the aesthetics and the general operations of its brand is the selling point of Petrocam, saying that the firm is the only filling station running the highest solar powered filling stations in Nigeria.

According to her, solar was the sure way to achieve an eco-friendly environment for the kind of services it renders to the public.

“The beauty of Petrocam is that we like to have our stations built in an environmentally friendly atmosphere. We are currently running the highest number of solar powered filling station in Nigeria. We have continued to do this in all our outlets because it makes the environment friendly. We currently do not have any outlet outside Lagos, because we are trying to create a niche for ourselves in the Lagos market, but before the end of the year, we will be expanding to Ibadan and Oshogbo,” she said.