CROSS River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade and his Delta State counterpart Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa have inaugurated the 40-million-litre capacity petroleum products depot built by Fynefield Petroleum at the Calabar Free Trade Zone.
The facility has capacity for 40,734,724 litres of petroleum products. It takes 20,413,594 litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) or petrol, 10,157,073 litres of dual purpose kerosene (DPK), and 10,164,057 litres of automotive Gas Oil (AGO) or diesel.
Ayade praised owners of Fynefield Petroleum for the huge investment, describing it as a significant milestone and a big boost to the economic and social development of the state and Nigeria. He said the facilities would provide several employment to Nigerians as well as enhance speedy distribution of products across the country.
He thanked Fynefield Petroleum’s management for choosing Cross River as the location for the depot. “We are very glad you chose to make this huge investment in Calabar. We can assure you that it is a very good decision,” he said.
Ayade said his administration was already working on the identified challenges. “My administration is aware of some of the challenges that you have mentioned and we are already working on them. I assure you that the evacuation corridor will no longer be a challenge. In no distant time the construction of 240 kilometre highway from Calabar down to ikot-Ogoja will commence, the contract has been signe few days ago.
“On the issue of draft which I understand has increased your cost of doing business because you are not able to load your vessels to full capacity; this government has thought it wise to set up a special task force to dredge the channel. In 18 months’ time modern vessels will be able to berth in Calabar because we are commencing the construction of a deep sea port,” he added.
Okowa lauded the project as a huge investment, a source of employment for youths and a boost to petroleum products distribution in the Southsouth and in the North.
Acknowledging the challenges faced by depot operators in the area, the governor appealed to his Cross River colleague to look into the areas of concern raised, assuring that he was confident that Ayade appreciated the importance of providing an enabling environment for business to thrive.
Managing Director, Fynefield Petroleum FZE, Gabriel Ogbechie said the depot was built to enrich the distribution chain of petroleum products in the country. He said the depot would, in addition to Cross River, serve neighbouring states, such as Akwa Ibom, Abia, Imo, Taraba, Plateau and others in the North.
He said the investment was the company’s contribution to the economic development of Cross River State in particular and Nigeria at large.
“This facility will provide direct employment to over 50 individuals and hundreds indirect jobs because trucks will come to the facility from all over the country to lift petroleum products,” he said.
On the challenges in the distribution of products, Ogbechie said poor road network was the most critical. He urged the federal and state governments to attend to road infrastructure challenge, especially the Calabar-Ikot Ekpene road and Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja road, which links Cross River with the Northern part of the country.
He also said due to the low draft of the Calabar River channel, which is 6.4 metres, they had to load 15,000 metric tonnes of products into vessels as against the 30,000 tonnes capacity thereby increasing operational cost.
