Fatgbems Petroleum rectifies technical issue in Abeokuta outlet

Onome Amuge

Fatgbems Petroleum, one of Nigeria’s largest indigenous petroleum products marketing companies, has confirmed the completion of technical checks on its IBB Abeokuta retail outlet which was affected by flood and water contamination due to the heavy downpour which occurred over the weekend in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

This was contained in a second statement in which the company further apologised to its customers and general public on the incident which saw fuel storage tanks flooded with water at the outlet.

While fielding questions from journalists, Shina Soleji, group sales manager of the independent petroleum company, bemoaned that the unfortunate incident has posed certain regrettable inconveniences on the outlet’s customers, adding that the company had taken immediate remedial actions to fix the issues which included taking the extra step of involving the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for on the spot assessment.

He explained that the residual products at the station are being evacuated while storage tanks/product pipelines leak and pressure testing are set to be conducted within the next couple of days before it is reopened for business.

“This retail outlet is one of the most popular in the area due to its strategic location serving locals as well as interstate travellers. We are eager to reopen but in our culture of safety first, our technical team worked round-the-clock to resolve the issue and measures have been put in place to prevent a recurrence because we are committed to exceptional service delivery ,” he assured.

The group sales manager also disclosed that the 10 customers whose cars were affected before the issue was detected have all been contacted and nine of the vehicles were tuned-up and refueled at its other retail stations in Abeokuta while the company had intensified efforts to monitor the said vehicles for quality assurance and possible reimbursement of additional cost of repair incurred on the vehicles in the event of further breakdown.  The 10th vehicle, he noted, would be taken by the rescue and recovery team to Skymit Motors Limited Service Centre located in Maryland, Lagos for repairs before it is taken to the owner’s Lagos residence.

Soleji, who was in company of other senior management staff displayed clean product dispensed from the pumps to reassure customers of the company’s swift resolution. He thereafter pointed out that the issue affected only the mentioned Abeokuta outlet as other locations the company operates continue to sell top quality products.

Reacting to the incident,Solomon Oyedokun, one of the company’s customers,said that the Fatgbems brand is known for excellent service delivery and the quality of its products has never for once been compromised.

“I believe this was an isolated incident and we can’t wait for the fuel station to reopen. Their service is super and we do not normally have issues here like in other filling stations around,” he said.

Fatgbems Petroleum had initially released a statement in the aftermath of the incident where they detailed steps taken to remedy the issue. The incident, which had initially generated controversy casting some doubts about the company’s commendable reputation, was discovered to have been caused by a water overflow into one of the station’s storage tanks.