The Managing Director of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, Mr. Tony Attah, has said the declaration of 2020 as the ‘Year of Gas’ by the federal government was not sufficient to bring about the required transformation in the country through gas utilisation.
He rather suggested that a decade should be dedicated to utilisation of gas to transform the country.
Attah said this during a webinar organised recently by the Oil and Gas Group of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), with the theme: “Oil and Gas Downstream and Midstream Sectors: The Way Forward.”
He said the NLNG planned to increase its allocation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to the domestic market from 350, 000 metric tons (MT) to 450, 000MT by 2021.
Attah added that the essence of the move was to support the federal government’s plan to deepen the penetration of LPG, commonly known as cooking gas, in Nigeria.
Attah said with Nigeria being a gas country with a proven reserve of 203 trillion cubic feet, it was time to use the product to drive the nation’s human capacity development and economic growth.
According to him, the desire of the NLNG to deepen LPG penetration in Nigeria was to create a healthy life for Nigerians by giving them access to cleaner source of energy for cooking.
“In 2007, total consumption of LPG in Nigeria was about 50, 000MT. Today, it is about one million metric tonnes and NLNG’s contribution is 350, 000MT.
“We have approached our board to get a mandate to increase NLNG’s contribution to 450, 000MT from next year. That is a very positive contribution from NLNG, “Attah said.
He noted that apart from the domestic usage, about 60 per cent of gas was being supplied to power generating plants across the country for electricity purposes.
Attah pointed out that this would help create jobs for Nigerians and help to reposition the nation’s economy, following the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the world was moving toward cleaner energy sources, adding that gas would afford Nigeria the opportunity to become a key player in the energy transition mix.
Source: This Day