In the latest development, Nigeria’s total storage capacity for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has increased to 69,900 MT, as Techno Oil Limited unveiled its new automated LPG terminal at Kirikiri in Apapa, Lagos recently.

Prior to Techno Oil’s addition of its 8,400 MT facility, total LPG storage in Nigeria stood at 61,500 MT with terminals located in Lagos, Warri, Oghara, Calabar and Port Harcourt. Operators have taken the ‘Year of Gas’ mantra of Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources very seriously as a wave of gas investments have swept across the gas-rich country.

In a breakdown of the total LPG storage facilities, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) accounts for 4,000MT located in Lagos and established 2017.

In 2017, Navgas had 8,000MT which it increased by 2,000MT in 2018 to arrive at a total of 10,000MT also located in Lagos. NIPCO Plc in 2017 had a 5,500MT facility which it expanded by 4,500MT in 2018 to have a total of 10,000MT located in Lagos.

Earlier in the year, Rainoil Limited joined the LPG train with the launch of its 8,000MT LPG facility in Ijegun, Lagos, bringing the total LPG storage capacity in the region to 40,400MT.

In Warri, Matrix Energy has 6,000MT storage capacity for LPG, while Dozzy Group has 5,000MT capacity established between 2016 and 2017. In 2019, Prudent Energy commissioned a 6,000MT LPG facility in Oghara, Delta State, while Stockgap launched an 8,000MT facility in Port Harcourt in 2019, with plans underway to expand the facility by 4,500MT in 2020.

The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited has recorded an increase in consumption of LPG from 50,000MT in 2007 to one million metric tons in 2020. Following the determination of the Federal Government to commercialize gas utilization, the NLNG has promised to increase its allocation of LPG to the domestic market from 350, 000MT to 450, 000MT by 2021.

In May, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) announce that the country had exceeded its LPG consumption target for the month of January 2020 recording 89.91 thousand MT utilization in the month of January 2020 with a positive variance of 7.9% above the targeted estimated figure.

The recent boom in LPG facilities is set to provide the much needed balance for exponential application of the product and speeden its integration in Nigeria’s energy mix. The development will also reduce greenhouse emissions and promote domestic gas value chain development.

The new Techno Oil LPG terminal is expected to generate up to 2000 jobs and unlock Nigeria’s 187 trillion ft3 gas reserve, which has remained largely untapped to date.

The terminal, which has the capacity to hold 8400 tons of cooking gas, was built by CAKASA Nigeria Ltd in collaboration with a foreign technical partner, and was financed by a consortium of banks.

The facility becomes the fifth such terminal to be built in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, which is also home to leading private oil and gas companies.

The terminal was built by CAKASA Nigeria Ltd. in collaboration with a foreign technical partner that signed a deal for the building of the terminal on November 4, 2016. The project was financed by a consortium of banks.

Commenting on the milestone, Mrs. Nkechi Obi, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Techno Oil, said “We plead with the government to provide funding to industrialists in building key facilities. The government should consider reactivating its butanization plants and also building new ones across the country to guarantee LPG availability nationwide.

“Similarly, it is also time for the government to embark on a media campaign to sensitize the populace on the benefits of LPG over other cooking fuels. More so, government agencies and regulatory bodies should enforce the rules to sanitize the space for a safe and profitable business environment.

“We remain thankful to the Lagos State government for being a worthy host by providing the much appreciated conducive environment for our business to thrive. This is yet another of our numerous projects that is being hosted in Lagos; we thank you from the bottom of our heart.”

The Governor of Lagos, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said that he strongly believed that pivoting the state of Lagos to a gas-powered economy would offer an array of economic and environmental benefits to its residents.

“Developments such as this will help to promote and deepen domestic LPG utilisation across the state, thereby reducing the state’s carbon footprint and ultimately benefiting the people of Lagos state and Nigeria as a whole,” said Sanwo-Olu.

“It is a significant step that will accelerate and deepen the growth of LPG to help diversify the economy, grow revenue and create jobs”.

The Managing Director of Techno Gas and Power, Mr Collins Onyeama, told reporters in Lagos that the facility would “boost realisation of the LPG Expansion Project of the federal government”.