The Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) is raising it’s Investment in gas infrastructure to bolster the decade of gas agenda of the Federal Government.
Already, the company has established Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) facilities across the country to make cars run on gas, while it is currently expanding its scope on supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and constructing new pipeline infrastructure to strategic locations in the country.
Managing Director of the NIPCO Plc, Suresh Kumar, who disclosed this in company of the MD NIPCO Gas Ltd ,a wholly owned subsidiary of the company ,Mr Nagendra Verma after a terminal. facility tour in Lagos, said the company has invested millions of funds in local and foreign currencies in developing Nigeria’s natural gas over the years, while more projects are still in the offing.
He said: “We have spent more than $50 million on natural gas infrastructure over the years. We believe that there are lots of potential in Nigeria that can be explored for gas utilisation, and this will further boost our economy.
“By using indigenous gas, we can reduce subsidy burden on the Federal Government. We can reduce the importation burden and that will directly or indirectly save our huge capital flight and there will be more employment opportunities for Nigerians.
“We are the pioneers. We always dream for the future. So we dreamt for natural gas utilisation in Nigeria right from 2008 and we started investing. We introduced this model to the government and say that look, Nigeria is a country that has abundant natural gas and instead of wasting subsidy on petrol, we should be looking at a blueprint of changing the petrol market to CNG market,” he said.
According to him NIPCO is an integrated company that supplies Nigerian market with petrol, diesel and gas.
He said the company currently has about 19,500mt combined storage capacity for LPG, with 10 loading bays which can truck-out over 4,000 tons per day.
The Managing Director, NIPCO Gas, Nagendra Verma, said the company currently has 14 CNG filling stations in various states across Nigeria, while another six CNG stations are currently under construction.
He said over 7000 vehicles are presently running on CNG, adding that over 350 truck fleet of NIPCO are all running on gas.
“We have workshops which are fully efficient and fully capable to convert PMS vehicles to gas, we have the expertise and we are ready to convert more vehicles to run on gas, he said.
Verma said: “So, we intend to have CNG stations in almost all the states of Nigeria wherever the pipeline is available.
“Presently we are laying 80 Kilometer gas pipeline from Shagamu interchange to Ibadan.
“The pipeline work is going on. We expect to commission first phase by the end of December 2023. And the entire pipeline is expected to be completed by next year,” he said.
According to him the company is also developing gas pipeline infrastructure in Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, which is currently nearing completion.
He said the company is currently constructing a propane tank of 500mt capacity, the biggest in Nigeria, in a bid to meet up with the Federal Government requirements of mixing certain quantity of propane with butane for domestic gas.
According to him, the propane tank would be completed in the next three months and will be an added infrastructure to aid steady and affordable supply of cooking gas to the populace .
