NNPC to open ‘largest’ cooking gas facility in Benin City
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is to open a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and dispensing facility in Benin City, Edo State.
The facility, developed in partnership with its upstream exploration and production subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC), is part of efforts to fast track the consumption LPG, popularly called cooking gas, in the country.
NNPC’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, said the facility will be the largest LPG and propane storage and dispensing outfit in country.
Mr Ughamadu said the facility is an extension of the Integrated Gas Handling Facility (IGHF) plant.
Apart from the capacity to dispense 330 tons of LPG, the NNPC spokesperson said the facility was capable of dispensing about 300 tons of propane daily.
In addition, the facility can handle about 100 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMscfg/d) and over 260 barrels per day of condensate from the IGHF plant.
The Managing Director of NPDC, Yusuf Matashi, said the IGHF would be a game changer for the NNPC, as both facilities (IGHF & LPG bay), when commissioned, would be a huge revenue stream for the Federal Government.
Mr Matashi said before the end of 2019, NPDC would be producing 40 per cent of Nigeria’s LPG consumption requirements.
He said the storage facility was centrally positioned in Benin City to supply LPG to consumers in Lagos, South-South; South-East and to the Northern part of the country, to grow consumption LPG consumption nationwide.
Mr Matashi said currently NPDC was the single largest supplier of gas to the domestic market, with about 90 per cent of gas supply targeted at power generation to drive the nation’s economy positively.
“We are paying greater focus on our 100 per cent assets production. NPDC assets will deliver a lot in terms of meeting its (crude oil and gas) volume targets.
“We (NPDC) currently contribute 10 per cent to daily national production. By the end of 2019, the company is looking at 15 per cent contribution to daily national production,” Mr. Matashi said.
According to him, the NPDC’s production outlook for 2019/2020 was on the bright side, as the company is aggressively pursuing its drilling and field development programmes as approved by the NNPC.
He disclosed that the company has crude oil reserve base of 3.6 billion barrels and gas reserve of over 15 trillion cubic feet from its involvement in the operation of 29 concessions – 22 Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) and seven Oil Prospecting Licenses (OPLs).
Besides, he said the NNPC upstream subsidiary would continue to be a leading exploration and production company of choice going forward.
Mr. Matashi said the NPDC has maintained cordial relations with regulatory agencies, such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), apart from consistently remitting its royalties and Petroleum Profit Tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
He said the NPDC and its various host communities were living in peace due to the company’s commitment to sustainable community development policy.
Over time, he said the company won the confidence of the people of the Niger Delta region and would continue to build on the gains recorded.
SOURCE: allafrica.com