Uche Cecil Izuora
The Nigeria LNG, has called for more gas infrastructure investment to support government’s push for gas commercialisation and utilization drive.
Mr Adeleye Falade, Managing Director of Nigeria LNG Ltd., said Nigeria remained rich in natural gas but faced infrastructure deficits that limited the utilisation of its resources.
Falade who unveiled the plant, while unveiling 5,000 metric tons gas terminal built by Asiko Energy Holdings Limited in Lagos, said NLNG produced about 500,000 tonnes of LPG in 2025, representing about 40 per cent of the country’s demand. He said demand was growing, making additional storage, transportation and distribution infrastructure necessary to strengthen domestic supply.
Falade said NLNG planned to increase its LPG production capacity by 50 per cent by the end of 2027.
He said the Asiko gas terminal’s connection to three Apapa jetties would provide multiple marine supply points and reduce reliance on less efficient supply routes.
Falade, however, said increased storage capacity alone did not automatically translate to lower retail LPG prices, which also depended on product supply, import costs, transportation, exchange rates and other distribution costs.
The Asiko Energy Holdings Limited on Tuesday unveiled its 5,000 metric tons (MT), a milestone that establishes a new benchmark for gas logistics and industrial supply security in Nigeria.
The company marked the landmark with a completion ceremony of Asiko’s LPG and propane terminal , an MDGIF sponsored project bringing together regulators, partners and industry stakeholders, four years after construction began in 2022.
Chairman of Asiko Energy, Mr. Alex Ogedegbe, says the newly completed Ijora terminal was built to solve three critical market gaps — storage, marine access and truck-out.
According to him the 5,000MT facility will strengthen product availability for households and businesses nationwide.
He disclosed that the terminal is linked to Apapa Port by a 1.7km pipeline connected to three jetty points, giving it direct access to coastal supply.”It has five mounded, propane-rated tanks and can receive products at about 440 tonnes per hour and evacuate about 160 tonnes per hour,” he said.
He noted that the terminal was engineered for reliable, safe and efficient storage and distribution of LPG and propane in a densely populated Lagos corridor.
Ogedegbe stressed that scaling infrastructure remains key to expanding energy access for households, businesses and industries, and called for targeted government support.
He said interventions such as the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, MDGIF, could catalyse private capital into critical midstream and downstream gas assets.
Managing Director of Asiko Energy, Mr Felix Ekundayo, said the company overcame significant engineering and construction challenges to deliver the project.
Ekundayo said the project involved about 6,000 tonnes of steel, 4,000 truckloads of sand and 1,500 stone columns drilled to 13.5 metres for ground improvement.
He said the company also used horizontal directional drilling to construct the pipeline connection through built-up areas and other infrastructure corridors.
According to him, the company planned a second phase involving a 30,000-cubic-metre LNG terminal and associated infrastructure.
He said the facility also had a firewater system, control room and laboratory for product analysis, while environmental monitoring systems had been installed for water discharge management.
Ekundayo said the project was supported by financial institutions, including the Bank of Industry, Stanbic IBTC, Wema Bank and InfraCredit.
The Deputy Managing Director of Wema Bank, Mr Oluwole Ajimisinmi, who spoke on behalf of the financiers, said the terminal would improve product availability and supply-chain efficiency.
Ajimisinmi, represented by Divisional Head, Corporate Banking, Mr Kayode Oladipo, said the company provided a guarantee that helped mobilise long-term local financing for the project.
He said the project showed how credit enhancement and risk-sharing could support infrastructure development.
He said the project demonstrated the potential for partnerships between government interventions and private capital to expand critical gas infrastructure.
“The completion adds storage and marine-access infrastructure to Nigeria’s LPG value chain at a time when domestic demand is rising and producers are seeking to boost supply,” he said
The terminal is the cornerstone of Asiko’s long-term strategy to bridge Nigeria’s coastal gas supply with inland storage and distribution.
Though located inland in the industrial heart of Ijora, the facility is functionally coastal. It is connected to Apapa Port via a dedicated 1.7km underground pipeline network with tie-ins to three jetty points — PWA, NOJ and NNPC jetties giving it multi-jetty operational flexibility and reducing dependence on a single berth.For a business audience, the asset play is in safety, spec and logistics:Safety & Spec:
The terminal features five 1,000MT propane-rated tanks in a fully mounded design — tanks encased under a protective mound — a critical safety requirement for its densely populated Lagos location. Being propane-rated, the tanks can store both LPG and pure propane and allow for on-site blending, expanding product offerings.
Our correspondent reports that unlike terminals trapped inside Apapa, the Ijora location offers direct exit to major road networks without Apapa gridlock, plus proximity to rail infrastructure for future multimodal evacuation. The company says this positions it for efficient trucking to Lagos and up-country markets.
Phase II — The LNG Bet: Completion of the LPG/Propane terminal is only Phase 1.
Asiko plans to commence Phase 2 in 2027 with the construction of a 32,750 cubic metre fully contained LNG terminal — comprising twelve 250cbm modular tanks and one large 30,000cbm tank.
Once completed, the site becomes a fully integrated tri-fuel hub with capability to support CNG via compression.
The project comes at a time when Nigeria’s LPG demand has surged past 1.2 million tons annually, with NLNG’s 500,000 tons now covering only about 40% of domestic needs, and over 100,000 deaths yearly still linked to dirty cooking fuels.
With NLNG planning a 50 per cent increase in LPG output by end of 2027, Asiko is betting that storage, jetty access and inland distribution — not just gas supply — will be the bottleneck that determines who captures value in Nigeria’s gas economy.