The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, says Nigeria is one of the lowest per capita Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) consuming nations in Africa and that opportunities exist for increasing LPG penetration and utilisation in the country.
He stated this in Katsina State where Butane Energy Limited, one of the gas-based businesses supported with an equity investment by the board has opened its 100 metric tonnes LPG storage and bottling plant in the Kabukawa Layout of the state.
Governor Aminu Bello Masari commissioned the project at the weekend. The new plant is to address supply constraints in the domestic LPG market in the northern part of the country through the facility’s operations/bulk storage, transportation/distribution, cylinder filling and bulk retail.
Wabote explained that the project is the first leg of its partnership with Butane Energy Limited with the other LPG bottling plants and depots to be rolled out next year.
He stated that Butane Energy’s LPG storage and bottling plants would come up in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, and Bauchi States while six depots would be located in Zamfara, Jigawa, Gombe, Plateau, Niger and Nasarawa states.
Wabote confirmed that Section 70(h) of the Nigerian Oil & Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010 mandates the Board to assist local contractors and Nigerian companies to develop their capabilities and capacities to further the attainment of the goal of developing Nigerian Content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
He stated that Nigeria still has one of the lowest per capita LPG consumption in Africa and a lot of opportunities exist for increasing LPG penetration and utilization in Nigeria.
Speaking,Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva hinted that the commissioning of the plant is directly linked to the declaration of Decade of Gas by President Muhammadu Buhari, which seeks to reinforce Nigeria’s aspiration to leverage on its gas resources estimated at 206 Trillion Cubic Feet to develop Nigeria’s national industrial, commercial and agricultural base.
He added: “It is this declaration that has spurred agencies under my Ministry to develop several gas development and utilization projects anchored on deepening gas penetration.”
The Minister was represented at the event by Dr. Nasir Sani Gwarzo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry and he added that “the deliberate focus of this administration to develop the Gas Sector is largely the driving force behind NCDMB commercial intervention in partnering with the private sector, to establish Butane LPG bottling plant in several Northern states including Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Niger, and the FCT.”
In his comments, Chairman of Butane Energy Limited, Alhalji Isa Mohammed Inuwa explained that the motivations of the project are to preserve the vegetation and discourage the use of wood to heat food, create job opportunities for the teeming youths and grow the business profitably.
He underscored the importance of NCDMB’s equity investment to the project’s development, adding that the plant in Kastina could be expanded to 160 metric tonnes. He added: “Our aspiration under the first phase is to establish five plants – in Kano, 180 tonnes; Bauchi, 120 tonnes; Abuja 180 tonnes and in Kaduna, 180 tonnes. Our expectation is that by September 2022, the firm would have five plants with total storage capacity of 820metric tonnes.
