FG re-affirms commitment to deepening LPG penetration, consumption

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to deepen Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) penetration and consumption in Nigeria.

The Minister said Nigeria’s LPG consumption remains one of the lowest in West Africa, noting that plans are ongoing to boost its consumption to five million tonnes.

He stated this at the inauguration of Rainoil’s 8000 metric tonnes (MT) LPG facility in Ijegun Egba area of Lagos.

He said energy is at the core of the global economy, adding that it is encouraging to see Nigerians at the commanding height in the global energy space.

He noted that the inauguration comes when the country declared 2020 as a year of gas, to make it a preferred source of energy.

“Gas is the new direction and I am happy that Rainoil is investing in this direction. We will do everything to support you and we want you to see yourselves as partners with the government to create value addition for Nigerians,” he said.

Sylva added: “We are trying to see how we can introduce gas as an alternative for fuel and we are also trying to deepen the penetration of LPG use in the country. This is actually the best time to have this investment. I want to also commend Rainoil for the foresight in making this investment at this time because the future is very bright.”

The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mele Kari, said it is the ambition of the Buhari-led government to deepen the utilisation of gas in all its forms.

“All of these cannot be done without the necessary architecture and infrastructure to support it. We are trying all we can at NNPC to put all the necessary physical infrastructure from the upstream to midstream, into homes and businesses. We cannot achieve this alone and that is why we are partnering stakeholders like Rainoil to deepen the use of LPG in the market,” he said.

“We are happy that this is coming and there are other couple of stakeholders doing the same thing; and overall, within a short period of time, we will see LPG utilisation deepened in this country, which would reduce the cost of energy for the ordinary man and businesses in the country,” he added.

The Group Managing Director, Rainoil Limited, Dr. Gabriel Ogbechie, said the inauguration of its 8,000MT LPG facility marks its debut into the sector.

He said the firm is one of the very few downstream players that own tank farms in three key locations in Nigeria: Lagos, Oghara, and Calabar.

“RainOil Limited is a leading integrated oil and gas company; we operate across the entire value chain of the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.”

He said for over 23 years, it has perfectly aligned its company’s vision and mission to continually proffer solutions to bridge gaps in the energy sector.

“We currently account for a significant percentage of petroleum product distribution in the country. In addition to our 8,000 MT LPG storage facility, we have a fleet 0f 40 LPG trucks to strategically support the distribution of products to our customers,” he noted.