Plus Petroleum

PIONEERING BUNKERING IN WEST AFRICA

PLUS PETROLEUM LTD

FUELLING West Africa Chuck Nwapa, CEO at Plus Petroleum Ltd discusses Nigeria’s nascent bunkering industry and pioneering expansion on the West African Coast Writer: Phoebe Harper | Project Manager: Josh Hyland

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OIL & GAS I think you are looking at an industry that is about to explode,” opens Mr. Chuck Nwapa, CEO at Plus Petroleum Ltd. Bunkering holds an essential position as the very backbone of maritime trade, delivering the lifeblood of the industry. Although an age-old global business, along the West African Coast, most enterprises within the bunkering industry are in their infancy.

Incorporated in 2011, Plus Petroleum is one such company.

Despite its youth, this small enterprise is at the very fore of the bunkering trade as an independent solutions provider.

“It may be an ancient industry globally but it’s not very mature here, so we are sort of the pioneers in the industry and we had to develop every practice and set the standard,” Nwapa comments.

This works in Plus Petroleum’s favour, giving them the freedom to define their mode of operations and practice without the expectations of a precedent.

A BURGEONING INDUSTRY In Nwapa’s native country of Nigeria, major ports such as Bonny and Burutu are central to the shipment of petroleum, making Plus Petroleum’s Lagos headquarters a strategic location.

“Nigeria is a large oil and gas producing country, which means offshore facilities and deep-water facilities. All I see here are marine vessels’ consumption of bunker fuel.

I would argue also that this is the largest container traffic shipping route in Africa,” he states.

Regardless of this, bunkering is very much in a stage of infancy as the country explores the industry’s full possibilities.

“The bunkering industry in Nigeria was unlocked in 2013 so it’s pretty nascent,” Nwapa comments.

Outside of Nigeria, the company

“THE BUSINESS WE ARE IN IS NEW AND WE ARE THE PACE SETTERS FOR MOST OF THE PROCEDURES AND PRACTICES HAPPENING IN THE INDUSTRY” - CHUCK NWAPA, CEO PLUS PETROLEUM LTD has physical operations spanning the West African Coast, ‘from Lomé to Ghana.’ Plus Petroleum has a monopoly on a wide range of maritime services, catering to a myriad of bunkering solutions in the industry.

After graduating from New York’s Rochester Institute of Technology, Nwapa got his first taste of the oil and gas sector selling cement pumpers for oil rigs with Schlumberger.

“When I moved back to Nigeria in 2012, I worked at SeaWolf, the foremost indigenous trading company in Nigeria, and part of my work there was bunker fuel purchasing,” he tells us.

This position offered valuable insight into the shortfalls of the industry.

“I saw some of the issues that we really encountered as a business in having to filter through legitimate bunker suppliers and I said to myself, this should be a simple thing. Why is there so much complexity around this? Why are people always short supplying, why is the quality always poor? And so, I began to look into it,” Nwapa explains.

This proved fortuitous timing as it coincided with the Nigerian government’s opening of the bunkering space in 2013 to welcome new entrants into the industries, offering Nwapa and his company the window they needed.

The idea of identifying a flaw in the market and seeking to fill it is a defining theme of Nwapa’s career trajectory and gave direction to the founding days of Plus Petroleum.

“The physical solutions in this market are just not tailored to the local environment. So for me, that creates an opportunity for locals like us who take the business seriously and approach it very technically to exist – that’s how we built our business.”

Fast forward to the industry today, and we see it as a sector shaped by dynamism, as more and more global companies are looking to the continent and West Africa in particular.

“The internationals, the Minervas, the Monjasas, the TFG Marines, through Trafigura, the PSTVs, Bunker Holding… they are all coming into this space because this is the only space where there is significant upside potential in conventional bunkering,” Nwapa informs us.

“Right now, most of the bunkering is done – apart from some of the other ports, like Port Gentil in Gabon, those in Cape Town, Durban... all those ports – but most of the action is in Lomé, and that’s where most of the shipping comes in,” he adds.

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PLUS PETROLEUM LTD

West African Fenders Established in 2014, West African Fenders provides a worldclass integrated marine service solution adhering to all local, international regulations and OCIMF Guidelines.

OUR SERVICES • • • • • • •

AT A GLANCE: PLUS PETROLEUM “Plus Petroleum is an independent physical bunkering solutions provider servicing the oil and gas (downstream and upstream), dredging, shipping and the fishing industries, primarily focused in the West African region.

Our service offerings currently are three main products – gasoil, all ISO specs 8217 low sulphur, fuel oil both 180, 380, CST, also low sulphur, and all the major marine lubricants. We also supply freshwater to the vessels.

In our fleet currently, we have four vessels under management: a strong and diverse client base from the oil and gas service companies, oil and gas producers, big shipping lines like the Maersks and CMCs, and general traders. We employ 25 people who work in our office, and our crew and operations personnel are about 70 across the four vessels.”

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SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Turning to talk of the company’s supply chain operations, Nwapa comments, “by focusing our operations on quality, timely delivery and safety, we’ve built a pretty staunch supply chain.”

“In our supply chain, the key things are quality of the product, the timeliness in the delivery of the product, the safe and secure delivery, and finally the customer interface.

These are the four basic things we built our operation around,” he explains.

Indeed, the company’s structure has been designed to align with these four values, all the way from the commercial department that brings in the business, to the operations department that communicates with the vessels to ensure the smooth and safe transportation of the product from source to client.

Quality is essential, avoiding the notorious ‘bunker boys’ that have become a blight to the industry, looking to make ‘quick cash’ by selling unadulterated products.

“We buy our products only from certified sources, and by this, I mean internationally verified/trusted sources like some of our trading partners, such as British Petroleum (BP), Shell, Totsa, etc.”

Marine consultancy services Ship-to-ship transfer services Pilotage services Terminal / upstream services Vessel chartering Agency services STS equipment sales or hire

Gbenga Lawal, Managing Director, has built an excellent team that has grown the business across West Africa. With new Bases in Togo/Lome and ongoing expansions in Cameroon and Senegal, West African Fenders have continued to offer great service and provide quality marine solutions.

www.wafenders.com

River Marine Fuels LTD Established in 2002, River Marine Fuels Ltd are bunker traders and suppliers covering the UK, Ireland, Northern European Ports, West Africa and Nigeria. With our network of exclusive suppliers and using the major oil companies, we provide a professional reliable service with very competitive prices.

We actively support Plus Petroleum Limited in Nigeria and West Africa and we look forward to a continued partnership as we expand the West African portfolio together.

River Marine Fuels Ltd strives for experienced, flexible and reliable partners. Plus Petroleum Limited certainly fulfils these requirements.

www.rivermarinefuels.com

OIL & GAS

SPECIALISTS IN ALL ASPECTS OF COMMERCIAL MARINE SERVICES, INCLUDING STS, DIVING, TERMINAL MANAGEMENT AND FLEET OPERATIONS. SHIP TO SHIP TRANSFER SERVICES TANKER CHARTERING MARINE SERVICES

West African Fenders is a world class marine Company with an aim to provide marine services to targeted business environments in Africa with the view of growing into regions in other continents where there is a growing need for Marine Services.

UK/Nigerian Office | operations@wafenders.com | www.wafenders.com

Professional Bunker Traders Experienced **Now Marine Fuel Suppliers in West Africa and Nigeria** West Africa – We have a network of independent suppliers and major oil companies covering West Africa, we can supply in most West African ports EX Truck/EX Pipe and also offshore EX Barge from 200NM off Ivory Coast to Lome range and Port Gentil to Pointe Noire range. Other West African ports and Anchorage quotes available on request.

Lubricants also available in most West African Ports.

Nigeria – Our dedicated Sales Director will cover your bunker enquires for Nigeria, we have selected a small chosen number of reliable and professional suppliers to meet your requirements, we can offer Offshore/Anchorage Nigeria EX Barge solutions and offer Truck supply in Lagos, Warri/ Escravos, Onne and Port Harcourt. We can also advise with any security/risk management concerns you may have and happily introduce you to www.areteafrica.com

Flexible Reliable Enquiries please contact: Phil Parkes Sales Director River Marine Fuels LTD. Mobile: +44 (0) 7803 371 649 Office: +44 (0) 151 709 4149 Email: Phil@rivermarinefuels.com Skype: Phil.parkes6

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PLUS PETROLEUM LTD

PLUS PETROLEUM’S FIVE YEAR PLAN FOR EXPANSION • Add more vessels to the current fleet • Take ownership of the four vessels presently under management • Begin trading actively in LPG and LNG bunkering • Acquire storage facilities in West Africa • Begin bunker trading by opening offices in at least three further West African countries • Overall increase of trade volumes

Trade partners and collaborators are carefully selected, based on those that mirror Plus Petroleum’s own values.

“We always look for people and companies who share the same values of seriousness, hard work, practicality and those people who believe in us,” Nwapa adds.

In light of their relatively young position in the industry, Plus Petroleum recognises the opportunity to learn from their established partners and suppliers, mimicking their methods of operation to improve their own.

“As a solid trade partner, which for us is BP, we look at the way they run 6 | Africa Outlook issue 89

their things in their jurisdictions, and we try to emulate some of the positive characteristics we see there.”

SURVIVING THE PANDEMIC As with all industries, 2020 proved to be a tumultuous time for Plus Petroleum, described by Nwapa as, ‘a year of survival.’ Nevertheless, operating under such challenging conditions had the benefit of streamlining operations.

“It forced us to become more efficient, to become more diligent, to become more detail oriented and to focus more on cost reduction approaches in our business,” he explains.

OIL & GAS “WE ARE BECOMING THE GO-TO BUNKERING COMPANY IN WEST AFRICA AND WE ARE STARTING TO SEE RECOGNITION FROM ALL THE BIG TRADERS”

The company’s location posed its own set of challenges, necessitating an unparalleled level of creativity and initiative to overcome.

“Obviously in a country like Nigeria where a lot of our clients pay us in local currency and we buy most of our products in USD, it was a challenge, but we got more creative. We got really ingenuous in navigating through the tough times,” he comments.

“Our sales volumes were definitely impacted, but because of our positioning and the way our operations are designed, we were able to take advantage of some of the volatility in the change of the price of crude oil.”

Fortunately, overall, this translated

to a company-wide increase in profitability, despite a decrease in terms of volume. If anything, the pandemic has taught Plus Petroleum to treasure even more their valuable workforce.

“We all look at ourselves as one family. We are all very hands-on and we are also very fair,” Nwapa comments.

Plus Petroleum ensures that all staff are empowered and valued through various initiatives and incentives.

These include a workplace reward system and generous bonuses, alongside extensive training that encourages the upskill of employees.

“We like to look for people with one key thing – a quest for knowledge, and a thirst for development. We are always willing to invest in individuals who are ready to learn.”

INTO THE FUTURE Looking ahead, the prevailing sentiment is one of excitement, thanks to the ongoing construction of the Dangote Refinery in Lekki.

“What you are going to have is a

transition from Lomé being the melting pot of the industry to offshore Lekki, Lagos, which is what we all expect,” Nwapa predicts.

Thanks to their strategic location, Plus Petroleum have ensured that they are exactly where they need to be and are gearing up for the move towards clean energies by diversifying into LPG and LNG bunkering.

“We are becoming the go-to bunkering company in West Africa and we are starting to see recognition from all the big traders,” he informs us – no small feat for a company of their size.

“We are looking at the future and we are making it local. So, I’d say West Africa right now, that’s the place to be.”

PLUS PETROLEUM LTD Tel: 01- 3422429 info@plus-petro.com www.plus-petro.com

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PLUS PETROLEUM LTD Pent Floor, 19 Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria Tel: 01- 3422429 info@plus-petro.com www.plus-petro.com

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