Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — The Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company, NIPCO, has invested over N100 billion in the gas sector to deepen the utilisation of Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, otherwise known as auto-gas in Nigeria in the last 14 years.
The Managing Director, of NIPCO Plc, Suresh Kumar, disclosed this during a media session in Lagos, saying that the company has so much faith in Nigeria, hence the continued investment to keep the gas sector alive for the benefit of its citizens.
According to him, NIPCO is the pioneer of CNG in Nigeria with approval from the Federal Government in 2009 and has since built the largest CNG network across the country.
He said the company currently operates 14 CNG filling stations with six conversion workshops across the country, while plans are at an advanced stage to expand the scope.
“So we can see a lot of vehicles migrating from petrol to natural gas. We have set up an auto gas station in Ibafo in Ogun state. Then we have a station in Okene, we have one in Ajaokuta, we have stations in Benin and we have one in Abuja,” he stated.
According to him, the company has recently commissioned another station In Ibadan along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, while one is under construction in the Lekki area of Lagos, plans are ongoing to establish an additional five stations in Abuja.
On the safety of auto gas, Kumar assured Nigerians that auto gas is adequately safe as the conversion kits and cylinders are fixed in line with the international standard without compromise for safety.
For conversion, he said the company has one workshop in Ibafo, Ogun State, three in Benin, Edo State, and two located in Abuja.
He therefore assured of further investments by NIPCO, saying “We are going to invest more massively in the sector because we see this is the future of the country,”.
Already, he said the company has invested massively in pipelines from Ibafo to Sagamu; another 65-kilometer pipeline from Sagamu to Ibadan; while others are linking Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta and Lekki, and Free Trade Zone in Lagos. Also benefiting from the pipeline network are Ajaokuta, Benin, and Abuja.
Kumar urged Nigerians to embrace auto gas, which comes in terms of CNG and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, in this deregulation regime.
He said the removal of subsidy has brought a lot of improvements to the sector and there has been a lot of migration from oil to natural gas as auto fuel, adding that already, there are queues for conversion of vehicles.
“Now it’s an option for the commuters to change from petrol to natural gas, whereby you know you can save a lot of money in the daily expenses because gas gives better efficiency. Nigerians should quickly tap into CNG, it is safe and cheaper. Your car can run on dual fuel. If the fuel finishes, you can immediately switch to gas and vice-versa.
“Gas is the better fuel and the whole world economy is moving towards lighter hydrocarbons and Nigeria is gifted with so much reserves in terms of gas with over 200 Trillion Cubic Feet, TCF, of proven gas reserves, which is even expected to grow up to 600TCF this year. It means I can categorically tell you the supply of gas for the next 100 years is guaranteed,” he said.
For the country to improve the distribution of gas, he urged the Federal Government to invest more in infrastructure, build more networks of pipelines, and facilitate the construction of the AKK pipeline.
Also, he enjoined the government to reduce tax and duty on the conversion kits and cylinders to have the cost crashed to the benefit of Nigerians.
