By Teddy Nwanunobi
NIPCO Plc has been commended by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, for its commitment to the development of requisite infrastructure to enhance effective utilisation of the nation’s gas resources.
Sylva gave the commendation when he visited NIPCO’s exhibition stand at the two-day National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) Consultative Forum hosted by Imo State Government in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources in Owerri, Imo State.
Sylva, who was received by the Assistant General Manager, Corporate Affairs of NIPCO Plc, Lawal Taofeek, expressed delight by the enormous resources the company has invested in the Gas Sector aside the giant impacts it has made in white products retail business in Nigeria.
He acknowledge NIPCO’s support for his ministry’s initiative to encourage a timely switch to gas as a viable alternative energy source in the country being championed by the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) under the leadership of Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, whom he described as a colossus in the nation’s hydrocarbon industry.
He stated that the Federal Government was vigorously pursuing its gas agenda, noting that the NGEP would impact positively on Nigerian economy.
Sylva expressed deep pleasure in NIPCO’s support to the government’s initiative of encouraging the switch to gas as a viable alternative energy source in the country.
Lawal, who welcomed the Minister and his entourage, including the Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Paul Emeziem, who represented Governor Hope Uzodimma, recalled the enormous support received from the former Minister of Energy, HRH Edward Daukoru, whom Sylva worked with as a special assistant.
“He was very much involved in the company’s emergence as one of the three firms granted licenses to develop Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) infrastructures and gas dispensing outlets to enable motorists to have alternative energy sources apart from white products in 2009,” he said.
He noted that the development resulted in the company’s inauguration of eight CNG stations in Benin, Edo State and Ibafo, Ogun State and further putting up of the biggest gas compression plant in West Africa in Ogun State.
According to him, NIPCO’s intervention in the gas sector also birthed the construction of about 10,500 MT LPG storage facility, saying that since the inauguration of NGEP by the Minister in January 2020, the company has key into the project and determined to offer meaningful support to enhance massive switch to gas as energy source for vehicles and industrial concerns.
In the realm of LPG as domestic cooking fuel, he informed that the company had last year launched an LPG skid expansion scheme requesting partnership with persons and families with virgin lands for long lease or outright sales to develop and install skids in conformity with Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) regulations.
He added that the scheme offers veritable opportunities for deepening LPG usage across the country through access to the product especially in residential areas at competitive rates.
According to him, the scheme, which has received tremendous support across the country, has boosted NIPCO’s LPG footprints in over 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
In his remarks, the Chairman NGEP committee, Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim, commended NIPCO Plc for its tremendous impacts in the gas sector.
Ibrahim said that the company offers renewed hope in harnessing the nation’s gas potentials.
He said as the preferred global energy source, Nigeria cannot afford to wait any longer to derive the inherent benefits of the impending gas revolution over fossil fuels.
