Obiora Metu
Rainoil Limited, a major downstream petroleum products marketer has opened a mega petrol filling station in Azagba community area of Benin City, the Edo state capital.
The mega filling station which occupies about 5000 square meters of space with an alluring serene ambience is expected to offer pleasing service delivery to motorists along the ever-busy Benin bypass.
According to the Group Managing Director of the company, Dr Gabriel Ogbechie, Rainoil has been in existence for the past twenty-six ( 26) years and has made a tremendous impact in the petroleum downstream, oil and gas industry in Nigeria, the only company in Nigeria that owns three tank farms in out of the four key locations where products are brought in and distributed across the country.
He said that customers would have access to the same quality of service available at any Rainoil station and that the new station will as usual ensure one litre for one-litre service on a daily basis.
According to him, Rainoil owns a fifty million (50,000,000:00) capacity Petroleum Storage Depot in Oghara in Delta state, another fifty million capacity Petroleum Storage Depot in Calabar in Cross Rivers state and yet another fifty million capacity Petroleum Storage Depot in Ijegun in Lagos state.
Access reaching further ” We are also heavily involved in LPG and we own eight thousand (8,000) metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas in our facility also located in Ijegun in Lagos state.
” We have a fleet of more than Two hundred and sixty trucks with which we distribute our products across the country and as of today, we own more than a hundred and sixty-five ( 165) filling stations spread across the country.
According to Dr Ogbechie, the mega station that was commissioned today is an important addition to their fleet of petrol filling stations.
” The petrol station that is being commissioned today is an addition to our fleet of petrol filling stations and is a significant addition to the existing Rainoil network stations across the country.
” I am glad to announce to you that as of today Rainoil has a presence in Twenty-six (26) states in this country and we are very happy to be in Benin City and to be in this particular location because Benin City is a town a state that is very important and strategic to Rainoil because when we talk of the Rainoil catchment area, the Rainoil sphere of influence, Edo state in general and Benin city in particular ranks very high in our reckoning and that is why we are sitting this befitting mega station in Benin”
Speaking to the newsmen at the event, Dr Ogbechie said that the motivating factor for sitting the station at the Benin bypass was strategically economic.
According to him, ” I studied the traffic and I know that a lot of travellers usually come from Lagos and when they leave Lagos, their next point of filling is in Benin and so we decided that the Benin bypass would be most appropriate for this purpose and that the right side of the road would be the most appropriate for the station and we also have to consider the size of land for a mega station on the highway and we decided that it shouldn’t be anything less than 500 square meters because if it has to be a mega station, it has to be big and inviting ”
On the recurring issue of under-dispensing of petroleum products by most fuel stations, he has this to say, ” we have established a high integrity benchmark which we intend to keep and as such at all our petrol stations, a litre is for a litre, not just in this location but across the Rainoil network. Any Rainoil station you go to, you can be very sure of the quality of products and the integrity of the product and our customers have attested to this assertion across the country and this is what we intend to continue doing in all our network across the country because that is one of our unique selling points.
He further added that the prospect at the location is high as according to him, ” you can see for yourself, we just commissioned the place some few minutes ago and the station is already filled up with commuters refilling their vehicles and this is validating our expectation and we know that the patronage is going to be very high, he concluded.
Also speaking with the Press at the event, the Group Executive Director, Mrs Godrey Ogbechie said that Rainoil started way back some 26 years ago and that the founders have consistently worked assiduously to grow the company to what it is today adding that Rainoil is in the forefront of oil and gas distribution industry in Nigeria.
According to her, ” We started small about 26 years ago and due to the consistent and focused dedication of the founders of the organization, Rainoil has today taken the leading role in the oil and gas industry by way of petroleum products distribution, employing hundreds of thousands of Nigeria in our over 260 filling stations spread across the country, contributing in no small measure to the growth of the Nigeria economy and I am happy today because we have realised all our dreams and visions, particularly for this location.
