*Fuel 1m cars per day
Hector Igbikiowubo
03 January 2016, Sweetcrude, Houston — ‘Half of Nigeria’s flared gas can generate 5000 megawatts of electricity and fuel over one million cars per day if converted into usable energy,’ Mr. Ubani Nkaginieme, the Chief Executive Officer of Total Support Group has disclosed in an exclusive interview with SweetcrudeReports.
Ubani’s Group is driving the use of virtual pipeline for supply of compressed natural gas, CNG, to address the inherent energy supply challenges in the country.
In addition he also identified job creation; elimination of pollution; development of new industry; improved skill set and increased government revenue as arguments for the elimination of gas flaring in the country.
He called for an immediate cap on gas flaring followed by a subsequent ban; accelerated capture of flared gas for domestic use and accelerated vehicular use of natural gas.
“Government should also ramp up power generation wherever gas is available with virtual pipeline infrastructure to increase distribution,” he urged.
Ubani urged government to facilitate the establishment of many small modular refineries with the backing of the CBN through long term funding or guarantees made available to credible Nigerian entities.
“What we have done is give industries and power clusters a cheaper, cleaner, sustainable and price-stable alternative to diesel.
“As you may be aware the natural-gas pipeline network in Nigeria is grossly inadequate. And most times the volumes of gas needed by industries and clusters outside the existing pipeline network are too small to justify building new pipeline to supply them.
“We basically take natural-gas from producer, or distributor pipeline (e.g. Shell) and compress it into our special trucks. That way, we can deliver enough volumes of gas for their operations that is still cheaper and cleaner than diesel,” he said explaining Total Support Group’s operation.
He noted that CNG is a relatively young industry and fuel in Nigeria, adding however that the technology has been around for decades.
“It has tremendous potential to create new skilled jobs that did not exist before. Our small CNG infrastructure has created over 100 new skilled jobs in the Port Harcourt area. A lot more jobs will be added when we graduate to wide vehicular use of CNG
“All our in-house operational cars are already converted to for dual-fuel use. They are able to run on CNG or petrol. We now run on CNG most of the time, at great savings.
“Petroleum products import is the largest single item on our import bill as a nation. Engines running on petrol and diesel also contribute significantly to atmospheric pollution. Nigeria’s Nox emission is the 2nd worst emission profile in the world.
“Therefore a switch to natural-gas fueled vehicles will be a major win-win-win for all. This will: reduce fueling costs significantly; create many new jobs; significantly reduce our petroleum product import expense; significantly reduce vehicular emissions and pollution; monetize the gas we currently flare,” he disclosed.
