FRI, AUGUST 04 2023-theGBJournal |The NNPC Ltd and NIPCO Thursday signed a landmark agreement that will result in the deployment of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations across the country.
The NNPC’s Group CEO Mele Kolo Kyari described the signing as a very big moment for the country.
”We know the cost of fuel subsidy removal has translated to some spike in the price of gasoline or PMS. This is no doubt is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to ensure that value is retained where it should be and also to provide much cheaper sources of automobile fuel. Besides, Mr President directives are very clear-NNPC Ltd and its partners go do something so that we can have cheaper cleaner fuel so that Nigerians can have relief and ultimately to reduce the cost of automobile fuel,” he said
According to Kyari, ”to this end, we engaged principal partner in the CNG business in this country, NIPCO Ltd. We had an extensive engagement and the landmark collaboration is aimed at expanding the CNG infrastructure, improve access to CNG and accelerate the adoption of cheaper and cleaner alterative fuel for bus, cars and Keke NAPEP.”
Under the NNPC and NIPCO strategic partnership, 35 CNG stations will be constructed nationwide including 3 mother stations.
Once fully operational, the stations can service over 200,000 vehicles daily, thereby significantly reducing the cost of automobile fuel to Nigerians and reducing the cost of transportation.
”The construction has started and this cheap fuel will soon be available,” Kyari noted.
He said the project will be rolled out in phases. The first phase, comprising 21 CNG stations, will support intra-city transportation and be ready by the first quarter of 2024; While the second phase, comprising 35 CNG stations, will support inter-city transportation and will be ready by late 2024. This will be further complemented by an additional 56 stations to be deployed by NNPC Retail across the country.
NIPCO Gas is currently operating 14 CNG stations across Nigeria and has converted over 7000 vehicles to run on CNG.
”NIPCO’s technical competency and field experience will bolster this initiative success and amplify its positive impact on the nation’s economy,” Kyari said adding that the initiative will leverage Nigeria’s abundant natural gas resources to bring multiple benefits to Nigerians, including access to cheaper fuel, reduced cost of transportation, reduced carbon emissions, create new business value chains and streams of job opportunities.
He noted the market will determine the price of the CNG, ”but even in current terms it is about a third or half of the price of PMS, so it is far cheaper. As we know, gas prices are clearly more stable that the price of PMS because contracts are always long term and that is the stability that come with it.
NNPC Limited says it expects further private sector participation by oil marketing companies to broaden CNG penetration and availability.
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