By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, has said that the year 2020 will mean a lot for the country in term of availability of gas.
Mr Sylva made this known when he received the Executive Management of the Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA) led by the President of the association, Mr Nuhu Yakubu.
During the visit, NLPGA had the opportunity to inform the Minister on the importance of government’s involvement in shaping action plans to grow the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry as well as deepening the utilization of LPG in Nigeria.
Business Post had reported that one of the key priorities of Mr Sylva’s duration as Minister involves completion of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, which he said remains paramount alongside deepening domestic gas penetration and adoption amongst others.
Mr Sylva, who commended the NLPGA for its recently concluded annual LPG Conference and Exhibition, noted the importance of safety and applauded group’s launch of the LPG Safety Check List, aimed at enthroning self-regulation on safe practices across the entire LPG value chain.
The Minister also disclosed that plans were underway to remove all old and obsolete gas cylinders in circulation and replace them with brand new ones while noting the innovation that Techno Oil; a member of NLPGA, was invested in doing this through its LPG cylinder manufacturing plant.
He said this has granted the company, ‘Pioneer Status’ which exempts it from paying tax on import of all raw materials for LPG cylinder production and will help to reduce the cost of production.
On his part, Mr Nuhu Yakubu, the Managing Director/Group Chief Executive Officer of Banner Energy Limited, during a presentation on Affordability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Availability of LPG, explained that several solution focused strategies when effectively implemented will not only demonstrate the government’s deep commitment in solidifying the sector but also ensure that LPG utilization becomes the norm. He added that for Nigerians to consider LPG, accessibility starts with cylinder distribution.
Also speaking, the Technical Adviser on Gas Business and Policy Implementation to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Justice Derefaka, noted that the country had a high annual flare volumes of over 2 million tonnes of LPG.
He added that when this is fully closed out by the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, it will effectively position Nigeria on the part to deepened domestic gas usage and adoption in Nigeria.
