Inside Pacific Petroleum’s journey to energy sector top

The South Sudan Pacific Petroleum Company is shaking the market as one of the energy champions in the country. Rising from the little-known company to a domineering outfit, leaping its dominance beyond borders: Pacific is a story of humble beginnings embedded in the grass to grace.

As one of the fastest-growing energy companies in South Sudan, with a number of competitors; Pacific Petroleum stands tall among its peers through both downstream and upstream marketing approaches to ensure that it rises to the peak of the business.

The General Manager of Pacific Petroleum Co. Ltd, Amos Odhiambo Onyango, in an interview with The City Review, stated that the company had witnessed steady progress due to the availability of adequate and diverse human resources within the company, which enabled it to achieve the required expertise for its operations.

“One of the things that have really worked for us is human resources. We are a  human resource made up of diversified nationalities working together to achieve the goals of the organisation. And one of the reasons for our key success is that we never lack,” Onyango stated.

“At least for every area: be it finance, be it human resources, be it marketing, be it public relations, be it logistics and operations; we are able to use these diverse human resources to secure expertise to conveniently run our business.”

He noted that the company has been able to maintain customers through product affordability and through promotions, branding, and roadshows, basically to promote products.

Onyango stressed that the company was working hard to ensure that the customers were happy and to ensure that when there was a shortage of products within the country, Pacific Petroleum Company customers would always have the products. This has yielded positive feedback from customers.

“Our customers are happy, and they tell us on social media platforms. They tell us to keep it up, keep going to the Pacific. We have a partnership with our customers for service provision and service improvement, so we are going far with that partnership. We are not only going, but the customers are also willing to go with us.”

COVID-19 upset

The General-Manager said the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the customers’ purchasing power and that Pacific had been able to maintain its customers through the creation of new businesses and the use of communication through Zoom meetings.

“We also accommodate customers’ circumstances. Why we have been lucky is that we have been able to maintain our customers even if their volumes are going down. Our performance volumes have been covered by new business, “he noted.

“In terms of communication, we have embraced technology by engaging our customers online using Zoom meetings, and it is working well for us. COVID-19 has brought a change, and we have managed that change through our organisation’s systems.”

He said the company had embarked on capacity development of staff and, therefore, the staff were trained so that they could excel in their careers and be able to deliver perfect services to the company.

He went on to say that they hoped to open at least 20 fueling stations this year and that they would be present in Wau, the second city where they needed to be.

Promotion

The company is currently running a promotion where a small gas cooking set is being offered at SSP 19,000 while the 13kg cooking set with a double burner cooker is offered at SSP39,000 so that the customers can be able to access Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas instead of charcoal and fossil fuel which is costly.

Giving back to the community

Odhiambo said that it was the responsibility of Pacific Petroleum Company Ltd to give back to the community through “corporate social responsibility.”

This was demonstrated through support to the Ministry of Health by donating materials like mattresses, beds, masks, and clothes.

This was also shown during the Christmas festival, when they supported at least 150 families in Hai-referendum, Gurei and Jebel-Dinka residential areas.

“We are not only looking at our business, but we are looking at the welfare of society as a whole. We are more involved in corporate social responsibility. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to reach out to the needy through Christmas presents, “he explained.

Diversity

Pacific Petroleum Company was established in Juba in 2019 with only one fuelling station in Bilpham. The company has now grown into having five stations in Juba in areas of Gudele station, Custom (Rock city station), Seventh-day roundabout station, Gumbo-sherikat station, Gumbo Suk station and the depot also located in Gumbo Suk.

The depot has the capacity of 1,000,000 litres and therefore, whenever there is a fuel crisis within the country, the company operates normally without feeling and shortage.

The business is also backed up by its logistics company called Wayshire Logistics, which has over 300 fuel trucks that transport fuel from Kenya to various stations.

The company is supported by a sister company in Dubai called Pacific African Petroleum, which markets crude oil and provides a market to Pacific Petroleum Company, South Sudan. As such, the company is able to sell crude oil to Singapore and China through Pacific African Petroleum, which also helps procure products for it at cheap prices.

The company is also present in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania and will soon establish a mining business in Congo.