Pinnacle Oil & Gas Limited owned by Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, has been fingered among companies accused of allegedly diverting money released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the Nigeria Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) Intervention Fund.
In a letter to the affected companies by the Senate Committee on Gas, Pinnacle Oil is accused of allegedly diverting the sum of N10 billion from the NGEP Intervention Fund which was released to the companies during the tenure of former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
In the letter which was signed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, other companies listed invited to what the senate called “Investigative Hearing” include, NIPCO gas Ltd, NIPCO Plc, Hyde Energy Ltd, Lee Engineering and Construction Company, Transit Gas Ltd, and Amalgamated Oil Company Nig. Ltd.
Others are First Modular Gas Systems Ltd, Novagas Ltd, Greenville Liquefied Natural Gas Company, AP LPG Limited, Dangote Oil Refinery, Delta State Government, and MOB Integrated Service Limited.
Portions of the letter of invitation to the investigative hearing sighted by our correspondent read: “The following companies who are beneficiaries of the Disbursement from the Niegria Gas Expansion Program (NGEP) Intervention Fund by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are invited to an Investigative Hearing with the Senate Committee on Gas.
“The invited companies are required to appear with their progress reports stating the Location of Projects and the Current Status of the Projects.”
Although the affected companies were supposed to have met the Senate Committee on Thursday, November 30, 2023, details of the meeting, said to have been held behind closed doors are yet to be made public by the Committee.
Pinnacle Oil was registered as an oil & gas company, there is no evidence on the ground to indicate that it has made any investment in the gas sector. Known mostly for the distribution of premium motor spirit (PMS) and diesel, Pinnacle Oil does not mention investments in gas as one of its lines of business.
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On its website, www.pinnacleoilandgas.com, Pinnacle Oil listed its areas of business to include, Logistics & Haulage Services, Offshore Intake/Offtake Facilities, Petroleum Product Marketing, and Storage Terminal Facilities. Under the “Petroleum Products Marketing menu on the website, the company did not even make any allusions to being a player in the gas sector.
Clearly stated on the website is the business statement; “As a leading player in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited is actively involved in the importation, storage, and marketing of refined petroleum products, through our strategic and well-structured distribution channels. Our distribution extends to the six geopolitical zones of the ever-growing Nigerian oil and gas market.”
Although on a window on the right side of the menu, it mentions Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) as one of the products it markets, Pinnacle Oil is not known to be a distributor of gas, raising questions as to what it invested N10 billion to expand.
On October 23, 2023, the company commissioned its sprawling storage facilities built at the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, but curiously, the facilities, said to have cost a whopping $ billion do not include any gas storage facility.
According to the information on the company’s website, products stored in its tank farms located in Wari and Lagos include PMS (petrol), JET A1 (aviation fuel), AGO (diesel), DPK (kerosene), and Base Oil.
