By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Eterna Plc, Mr Mahmud Tukur, has said the management was making efforts to expand the company’s reach across the country in order to boost revenue.
Addressing newsmen recently at a press conference, Mr Tukur said the firm has put in place a 5-year plan to acquire upstream oil and gas assets and increase the number of its petrol stations across the country to 200 from its present 39.
Eterna, which marks its 30 years of operation in the oil and gas industry, said it plans to be in a position to participate in future marginal fields bid round.
“The core of Eterna’s current business is trading, fuel supply and lubricants. The company will scale up its existing business by increasing its retail presence nationwide.
“We have 39 stations currently operating, and in the next two to three months, you will see Eterna being very visible in Lagos; we are very strong in Port Harcourt and Abuja. We hope to have 200 petrol stations in the next five years. Year-on-year, you are going to start seeing us doubling our capacity,” the MD/CEO said.
Mr Tukur informed journalists that Eterna had made a significant investment in its lubricants business, with a thriving chemicals business.
“We are now in a position where we are blending different grades of Castrol products and we are continuing that conversation with Castrol to expand the portfolio of locally manufactured products,” he said.
According to him, Eterna will invest in liquefied petroleum gas facilities and roll-out of LPG distribution channels nationwide using retail outlets and independent distributors, adding that the firm would expand and strengthen its presence in the lubricants markets nationwide, and utilise existing assets to compete favourably in the supply of aviation fuels.
“We currently have a small upstream operation. We are looking at acquiring marginal fields and how to deploy capital to buy producing assets.
“There are a lot of opportunities and gas infrastructure development that we are looking at. These are the core areas that form part of our five-year business strategy,” Mr Tukur said.
