Energy firm assures LPG consumers of steady supply

In line with the aspiration of the Federal Government (FG) initiative through Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to grow and expand the local consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), 11 Plc formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria plc has made a strong entry in the LPG market through the launch of its LPG domestic gas in various outlets in Lagos.

The move according to the Managing Director of the company, Tunji Oyebanji was due to the current capacity of their sister company NIPCO’s strong presence in the LPG market since they have extensive assets and infrastructure within the various value chain from storage to distribution.

He said Nipco’s LPG operations consist of a 10,500 metric tons (MT) storage capacity in Apapa, Lagos with a distribution chain comprising of 42 LPG delivery trucks with capacity ranging between 3 and 25 tons per delivery and various other investments at the retailing end of the business.

Oyebanji who further reinforced steady supply of the product noted that Nipco has a technical supply agreement with Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), the largest producers of LPG in the country, which guarantees regular supply.

He disclosed that 14 other sites have been open simultaneously in Lagos state and it’s their aim to cover all retail outlets in the state before moving to commence work in other states of the federation.

In his keynote address, NNPC ‘s Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Henry Ikem- Obih noted that though the country’s current LPG consumption of about 5,500 MT annually is not yet satisfactory, there are huge potential for the market because the World Bank statistics estimates that Nigeria’s consumption is about 3.2 million tons a year.

But in other to achieve this target, Ikem-Obih explained that an industry approach needs to be adopted so that there would be an increase in LPG penetration, hence the need for investments by the downstream sector in that direction because ultimately, there is a lot of money to make from LPG for everyone in the sector.

Giving a comparison of the per capita LPG consumption in some African countries, he said in spite of being the largest producer of the commodity in the region, its per capita is 2.3 kilograms a year as compared to Morocco and Ghana whose annual per capita stands at 6.27 and 9.45 kilgrams respectively.

Stating the way forward, he remarked that the final investment of NLNG’s train seven are underway as well as attempts to reactivate the Brass LNG project and looking at the OP LNG project to increase Nigeria’s shares of the global LPG market.

He affirmed that the corporation’s interim plan to boost storage, as activities have commenced towards investing and standing the LPG storage facilities at Apapa which currently stands at about 4,000 metric tons as well as double and infuse other capacity to that facility.