By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) is set to supply 100 percent of its liquefied petroleum gas to the Nigerian market to crash the prices of cooking gas, a statement on Thursday said.
The statement signed by Andy Odeh, NLNG General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, said it will prioritise the domestic market for 100 percent of its butane and propane production.
The move, it said, is aimed at increasing LPG availability in Nigeria, diversify its use and support the federal government’s Decade of Gas initiative.
According to the statement, NLNG is currently the highest single supplier of LPG to the domestic market, with an estimated 400,000 metric tonnes supplied in 2021.
“The milestone is coming just three months after the company supplied its first propane cargo into the domestic market and has developed a scheme to sustainably supply propane for usage in cooking gas blending as well as in agro-allied, autogas, power and petrochemical sectors of the Nigerian economy to further deepen gas utilization in Nigeria,” the statement said.
Speaking on the development, Managing Director and Chief Executive officer of NLNG, Philip Mshelbila, said the announcement marked the company’s strong commitment to the continued growth of the domestic LPG market and its passion to increase utilization of one of the most versatile energy sources in the world.
“Gas, as the cleanest of the fossil fuels, has become an essential energy source to be reckoned with during this energy transition period. Other countries are revolutionizing their energy industry to cut down on carbon emissions drastically. Nigeria should not be left out in this drive, considering its abundant gas resources,” Mshelbila said.
He added that gas is essential for life and living at the moment because it can support everything we will need to develop our economy and create better living standards for Nigerians. We need to change the narrative, and NLNG is being pragmatic about it.
“We are ardently following up on the commitment we made in March 2021 at the NLNG-sponsored pre-summit conference of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) 2021 organized by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources to support the Decade of Gas declaration by the Federal Government.
“We are driven by our vision to remain a globally competitive LNG company helping to build a better Nigeria and are making a reality of our collective dreams that one day we can switch all cooking fuels to gas, and power our vehicles with gas as encapsulated in the government’s National Gas Expansion Program and the Autogas Policy,” he added.
Speaking further, he said: “We supplied our first Butane (LPG) cargo into the domestic market in 2007, which helped to develop over the years the LPG industry in Nigeria from less than 50,000 tonnes to over 1 Million tonnes market size annually by the end of 2020.
“In 2021, we increased our LPG supply commitment from 350,000 metric tonnes (or 28 million 12.5kg cylinders) to actual delivery of 400,000 metric tonnes (or 32 million 12.5kg cylinders) thereby directing most of our production into the domestic market. But this was not enough for NLNG, hence this commitment to do all that we possibly can and supply 100% of our LPG production to the domestic market.”
