By DOH JAMES SONKEY
A delegation of staff of Cameroon’s National Refining Company Ltd better known by its French acronym as SONARA to the 8th edition of SAGO last July 6 to 13, 2019 at the Yaounde Multipurpose Sport Complex, spent tireless days attending to curious crowds of visitors who took turns to get from the horse’s mouth, the current health of the company, barely a month after it suffered a fire incident.
At hand to receive and respond to various preoccupations of crowds of visitors was a team led by SONARA’s Director of Public Relations, Communication and Translation, Blasius Ngome.
Attending to the Minister of Communication, René Emmanuel Sadi who represented the Prime Minister, Head of Government at the official opening ceremony last July 9, 2019 and his accompanying delegation including the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Supreme State Audit, Mbah Acha Rose and the Director General of Cameroon Telecommunications, CAMTEL, Judith Yah Sunday etc, Blasius Ngome reassured that as instructed by the government, their General Manager, Jean Paul Simo Njonou has taken special measures in order to ensure that petroleum products are continuously being supplied to all parts of the country at the same prices.
The SONARA team at SAGO 2019 was congratulated by the special representative of the Prime Minister, for being present at this year’s exhibition in order to dispel rumours propagated by some unscrupulous individuals on a possible fuel scarcity in the country despite government’s reassurance that special measures have been taken to keep the situation under control.
Talking to The SUN, the Director of Public Relations, Communication and Translation, Blasius Ngome said “we have been reiterating to visitors here that SONARA’s mission has not changed, which is to refine crude oil in order to satisfy the needs of the national and where possible the sub regional and international market. SONARA produces and supplies the following products: butane, super, jet A1, petrole lampant, gasoil, distillate and fuel oil.”
On what actually happened at their company, he explained that “SONARA suffered from an explosion that led to a fire incident which consumed part of its production units causing a shutdown. Following our mission to satisfy the national market, SONARA is now importing refined petroleum products in order to avoid any fuel shortage during its shutdown period. Our accredited laboratory continues to confirm the quality of these products and ensure that the market is not flooded with adulterated products. Our tank farm is made up of 57 tanks with a total storage capacity of 664 000 m3. Our national monthly consumption of refined petroleum products is approximately 170 000 m3. Since the fire incident, SONARA has been importing refined petroleum products as recommended by the State which owns 96% shares in SONARA.”
Mr Ngome further hinted that “each month, SONARA purchases 170 000m3, stores and supplies to marketers for national distribution. SONARA has a total storage capacity of 600 000 cubic meter.
A presentation on SONARA done at the official opening ceremony was prepared by the company’s Chief of Service for Crude Oil Stock Management, Mrs Elung Brenda.
It is worth noting that Cameroon’s National Refining Company was created by Presidential Decree N° 73/135 of 24 March 1973, incorporated on 7 December 1976 and inaugurated on 16 May 1981.
SAGO, launched in 2012 as a forum to showcase government’s actions and development policies is organized by the firm, Mon Communicateur. Its 8th edition this year witnessed the participation of about a hundred exhibitors.