MOBIL Oil Nigeria Plc has reiterated its full support for the Federal Government’s plans to deregulate the downstream sector of the economy, due to its expected positive impact on businesses in the oil and gas industry in particular and the economy in general.
The Chairman and Managing Director of the company, Adetunji Oyebanji, who stated this in Lagos, yesterday, during the company’s yearly general meeting said that government adopted a temporary solution to solving the age long problem of petroleum subsidy reimbursements by the issuance of sovereign debt notes for fuel imports.
He explained that the subsidy burden, in terms of the cost to the country, remains very challenging as gasoline and household kerosene have been heavily subsidised and government maintained its control on supply and pricing.
The managing director also noted that the company posted a profit after tax of N3.9 billion, representing a growth of 37 per cent when compared with 2009 performance.
He explained that the turnover, was slightly down at N58.3 billion, as a result of supply and logistics constraints and increased competition from major new entrants into the market, particularly offsets by higher lubricant sales.
He said: “We are encouraged by the government’s determination at micro-economic reforms, especially the initiatives in the banking sector and the articulation of a road-map to reform the electricity and petroleum sectors.
“Beyond privatising the refineries, the entire supply and distribution infrastructure should be fully privatised to enable our industry, attract the necessary investment that will unleash the full potential in this critical sector.”
Oyebanji added that performance in terms of the controllable elements of business was equally impressive and that the company had achieved the best in class performance in safety, credit and controls.
“We embarked on the refurbishment of our storage tanks and upgrade of our tank farm operations in Apapa for the storage and handling of gasoline and aviation fuel.
“Further investments in our pipelines, storage tanks loading facilities are also planned to expand our storage capacity for gasoline, improve our competitiveness in the diesel and kerosene segments and also increase operational safety and efficiencies,” he said.
He emphasised that the company invested in training programmes for people with over 70 per cent of the workforce attending at least one training workshop, which covered leadership, individual effectiveness and technical areas with view to improving quality.
The directors, at the meeting, recommended a dividend of 960 kobo per 50 kobo share or 75 per cent of profit after tax subject to deduction of appropriate withholding taxes, which was approved by shareholders.
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Mobil backs deregulation excercise, records N3.9b profit