By YANGE IKAA
Butane Energy Limited, one of the gas-based businesses supported with equity investment from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has projected that by next year, the company will build new storage and bottling depots for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in 10 states across the country, as well as in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, who is executive secretary of NCDMB, confirmed that the LPG storage and bottling plants currently in the plans of Butane Energy would be sited in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, and Bauchi States, while six depots would be located in Zamfara, Jigawa, Gombe, Plateau, Niger and Nasarawa States.
The chairman of Butane Energy Limited, Alhalji Isa Mohammed Inuwa, described the motivations of the project as “the desire to preserve natural vegetation and discourage the use of wood to heat food, and also to create job opportunities for the teeming youths and grow business profitably.”
He underscored the importance of NCDMB’s equity investment to the project’s development, adding that the plant in Kastina could eventually 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; and our expectation is that by September 2022, the firm would have five plants with total storage capacity of 820 metric tonnes.”
On Saturday, December 4, Butane Energy commissioned its 100 metric-tonne LPG storage and bottling plant at Kabukawa Layout in Kastina State, with assistance from NCDMB in the form of equity investment and in accordance with the dictates of the Nigerian Oil & Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010.
Section 70(h) of the Act mandates NCDMB 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.
Wabote explained that the project commissioned at the weekend in Kastina is the first leg of its partnership with Butane Energy Limited with the other LPG bottling plants and depots to be rolled out in 2022.
The Kastina State Governor, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, cut the tape to open the facility to the public for for business. The project promoters said their motivation came from the desire to help address supply constraints in the domestic LPG market, especially in the northern part of Nigeria through plant operations, bulk storage, transportation, distribution, cylinder filling and bulk retail.
According to Wabote, “Nigeria still has one of the lowest per capita LPG consumption rates in Africa and a lot of opportunities exist for increasing LPG penetration and utilization in Nigeria.”
In his remarks, the minister of state for petroleum resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, noted that the commissioning of the plant is directly linked to the declaration of the 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 the country’s industrial, commercial and agricultural base.
According to the minister, “it is this declaration that has spurred agencies under my ministry to develop several gas development and utilization projects anchored on deepening gas penetration.”