As the Federal Government continues the push for increased gas supply to the domestic market, the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (Pi-CNG) has disclosed that about $890 million investment would be required to develop infrastructure for the alternative fuel.

It has also fixed a date for the technical commissioning of the 300mmscfd capacity Kwale Gas Gathering (KGG) and injection facility in the Niger Delta after it was put on hold following the nationwide industrial strike by labour unions.

Pi-CNG expects to convert about one million vehicles to CNG, saving the country about $4.4 billion yearly in petrol importation.

Making a presentation at a Co-Creation Session on Nigeria Gas Vehicle Monitoring System (NGVMS), in Abuja, yesterday, the Coordinator, Regulations, Compliance and Facilitation, Pi-CNG, Zayyan Tambari, explained that the government expects CNG to replace 20 per cent of the 50 million litres of petrol consumed in the country daily.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said the government was determined to ensure that the country reaps the full benefits of its gas resources.

The minister, who was represented at the event by Abel Nsa, pointed out that specific materials and tools would be needed across the value chain to ensure the safe usage of CNG as fuel for vehicles.

“We are at the point where we need to begin to talk about the safety issues in the use of CNG. We have got to educate ourselves and we have got to use specific tools and materials we were hitherto not been using,” he added.

The Executive Director, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Ogbugo Ukoha, said the agency, in its quest to promote the use of gas, gazetted two regulations that addressed technical framework and specifications for the development of gas retailing infrastructure and fuel quality standard.

Project Director/Chief Executive, Pi-CNG, Michael Oluwagbemi, had explained that the transition to natural gas usage was good for the country bearing cheaper, cleaner, safer and more sustainable gas.

The injection facility in Umusam Community, near Kwale in Delta State, Niger Delta, is a joint venture between Nedogas Development Company Limited (NDCL), Xenergi Limited and Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Capacity Development Intervention Company, in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Gas Infrastructure Company (GIC), a subsidiary of NNPC Limited.

According to a statement by the NCDMB, the technical commissioning will now be held on Thursday, June 6, 2024, after its successful completion.

Ekpo, who will perform the formal commissioning, will be supported by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta and the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Felix Ogbe.

Speaking on the project, Ogbe enthused that the success story of NEDOGAS at Kwale could be replicated in other oil and gas-producing communities to minimise gas-flaring.

He declared the board’s readiness to continue collaborating with the company.

Managing Director of NDCL, Debo Fagbami, explained that with the completion of the first phase of the KGG facility, the proof-of-concept to monetise gas has now been established to the extent of eradicating the pain of seeing an invaluable resource being wasted.

“Rather than just being concerned about ending gas flaring, he sees opportunities to harness the potential of the flare sites from these oilfields which will ultimately convert a ‘wasting’ resource into an economic asset used to generate cleaner energy,” he said.

With an estimated 180 billion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, Nigeria has the ninth-largest concentration in the world. However, the country continues to flare significant quantities of associated gas, which has relegated the health and environmental well-being of the citizens to the background for over 60 years.