Nigeria’s Conoil expects NGN33 billion in earnings from lube business

Conoil Plc, Nigeria’s largest indigenous petroleum products marketer, said that it plans to invest NGN1.5 billion (US$9.5 million) to reinvigorate the high margin lubricant business which had been recently deregulated. Conoil will invest the amount over a four-year period, with projected revenues of NGN33billion (US$207.3 million) over the same period.
The company has thus far upgraded the filling lines at its Apapa plant and added four lines to increase production capacity to 50 million liters per annum. In a statement to the press, the company said that it also expects to produce 25 million liters per annum each from the Port Harcourt and Kano plants. The Apapa plant in Lagos, Nigeria, is well positioned to cater to the engine oil needs of the southwest; whereas the Port Harcourt plant will supply the southeast, and the Kano plant will cover the north.
The company projects a growth rate of NGN13 billion (US$81.6 million) in 2012, compared to its NGN8 billion revenue (US$50.2 million) from lubricant sales in 2011. Statistics from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) projects a 25% growth in the Nigerian lubricant market over the next three years.
Conoil, which produces 20 million liters per annum, has a 20% market share. The company said its award-winning lubricant brands, Quatro and Golden Super Motor Oil, have become the fastest-growing lubricant brands in the country. (August 26, 2012)