The Federal Government has said that it was aggressively pursuing the opening of micro Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants across several communities, to address the rising prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the country.
Dr Mohammed Ibrahim, chairman, Natural Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) made this known at the 2022 Annual General Meeting of Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Wednesday.
The theme of the event was “LPG Sustainability and Contemporary Issues.”
Ibrahim said the Federal Government was fully focused on ensuring that LPG is made available to Nigerians and at an affordable price in no distant future.
“So, we are now building micro LNG plants in every part of this country because we want to demystify LNG.
“In this programme, we can have a 4,000 mmbtu LNG plant right in any village where you have a flare site.
“In the next 12 months, we are going to open a micro LNG plant in Owazza community in Abia – producing LPG right in the village,” he said.
Ibrahim added that Nigeria had no business exporting LNG when the country was yet to address local consumption and transformation of the industry.
According to him, the country has an abundance of LNG in the Dahomy Basin, Niger Delta Basin, Bida Basin, Gongola Basin and Chad Basin, among others.
“Nigeria is a haven of natural gas. So, now that LNG is the transition fuel it is an opportunity to take advantage of the resource to develop the country.
“We are producing so much natural gas for export when we should be using it for power production, which explains why there is no electricity in the country.
“This means that every single molecule we export out of Nigeria, we are exporting electricity and development, among others; yet we are celebrating Nigeria LNG Train 7,” he stated.
He said that massive corruption behind the subsidy scheme on petroleum products had hindered needed growth of the sector and affected the economy.
“So, by this time next year (2023), there will be no subsidy on gasoline in Nigeria. We will ensure that every single Butane or Propane gas is sold in Nigeria – and not exported.
“Once this happens, the price of LPG will crash while there will be a massive diffusion of gas into every nook and cranny in the country,” he said.
On his part, the National President of NALPGAM, Mr Oladapo Olatunbosun, said the annual general meeting was a yearly event that brought together industry players, to brainstorm on how to improve the LPG business.
He said that NALPGAM members would also look into the LPG distribution value chain and deepening of LPG as the preferred cooking gas.
“We will also look at expansion of the use of LPG into other areas like auto-gas, power, among others, which is a catalyst of industrialisation in-line with the Decade of Gas declaration of the Federal Government
“So, this event will provide a pathway for stakeholders to x-ray the landmarks and roadblocks that may aid or hinder the realisation of the policy,” he added.
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