NIPCO commits over $50m to energy transition
By Felicia Nwosu
The Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) has revealed that over $50m investment has been committed to gas the infrastructure with a view to enhancing diversification and energy transition in the country.
This was disclosed by Suresh Kumar, Managing Director, NIPCO, during a facility tour of the company. Kumar affirmed that the organisation had been able to expand its presence in both gas usage and market penetration in the country through massive investment in the sector.
“We have spent more than 50 million dollars 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.”
He said that as the Federal Government plans to put an end to fuel subsidy, natural gas by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Auto CNG were bound to be a preferred “fuel of choice”.
He explained that the benefit of natural gas is that it is safe, environmental friendly, economical, among others. Kumar said that the company had invested massively in gas infrastructure, in line with Federal Government declaration of 2021 to 2030 as “Nigeria’s Decade of Gas“.
He noted that the declaration is a period the government aspired to accelerate domestic and export gas production and utilisation.
The MD also added that NIPCO was intensifying investment in gas infrastructure to bolster the gas agenda of the Federal Government, which was getting a booster.
According to him, already, the company has established Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) facilities across the country to make cars run on gas.
He also said that NIPCO had been expanding its scope on supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and constructing new pipeline infrastructure to strategic locations in the country.
Kumar said “By using indigenous gas, we can reduce subsidy burden on the Federal Government.
“We can also reduce the importation burden and that will directly or indirectly reduce capital flight and create 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. Nigeria is a country that has abundant natural gas and instead of wasting subsidy on petrol, we should be looking at a blueprint that can change the petrol market to CNG market.”
According to him, NIPCO is an integrated company that supplies Nigerian market with petrol, diesel and gas.
Kamar said the company currently has about 19,500 metric tonnes combined storage capacity for LPG with 10 loading bays, which could truck-out over 4,000 tons per day.
Also Nagendra Verma, Managing Director, NIPCO Gas, said the company currently has 14 CNG filling stations in various states across Nigeria and another six CNG stations, currently under construction.
He said over 7,000 vehicles were currently running on CNG, adding that over 350 truck fleet belonging to NIPCO were all 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. We intend to have CNG stations in almost all the states of Nigeria, wherever the pipeline is available. Presently, we are laying LNG pipeline for 80 Kilometer 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 proudly revealed that the company is also building another gas pipeline infrastructure in Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, which is currently nearing completion.
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