NNPC targets West Africa retail market in expansion bid

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has directed its downstream subsidiary, NNPC Retail Limited, to ensure it grow its market share of petroleum products distribution in the country to 30 per cent by 2020 and also expand its presence to other neighbouring states in the West African sub-region. In a statement in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru explained that the target would enable efficient products distribution and price stability across every nook and cranny of the country.

Currently, he said the NNPC’s downstream subsidiary holds about 14 per cent market share of the country’s products distribution network. Baru explained that the NNPC was also committed to ensuring that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, as a flagship national products marketing company, become more profitable and crucial to meeting the country’s energy demands.

He said that NNPC was working assiduously towards bequeathing a Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company, NPSC, that would brim with revamped infrastructure for efficient storage and distribution of petroleum products across Nigeria, thereby ensuring supply reliability and energy security.

He noted that it was the NNPC’s key aspiration to strengthen its shipping outfit to support the downstream growth objectives of its subsidiaries, saying the corporation would not relent until NNPC Shipping becomes the partner of choice in the marine transportation and logistics business.

He said, “The downstream sector is one critical aspect of our business upon which we are readily assessed by majority of our stakeholders nationwide and in the international market environment, making it imperative for the corporation’s long-term survival and image.  “In making the choice to rebrand these entities, we are taking a huge step towards enhancing our corporate reputation, improved profitability, sustainable growth and most importantly, capture a larger share of the market across the entire downstream value-chain.”