Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) has
commenced upgrade of its Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, infrastructure to boost product supply and usage across the country.
In the ongoing exercise the company is adding 5,000 metric tonnes of LPG, known as cooking gas to existing storage facility.
Taofeek Lawal, spokesman of the company told the media that the additional 5,000 MT storage tanks project when completed by June 2017 would promote growth in Nigeria’s LPG consumption and thrive the LPG market.
He said that the project which is a state of the art ultra-modern facility commenced in April 2016 with over 80 workers and had not recorded any causality.
Lawal said that when completed the company will have a total number of 9,800 MT of LPG storage capacity, adding that it has also recorded over 110,000 man hours time spent on the projects.
He said that the project was part of the company’s conscious initiative in deepening the LPG market through a well articulated project and policy for the benefit of all stakeholders.
According to him, Over the years the company has put in place a massive 4,500 MT LPG storage facility to deepen the domestic gas market, adding that another 5,000 MT LPG storage facility is about to be completed to growth and boost cooking gas availability in Nigeria.
“These initiatives are essential to encourage other companies to join hands in growing the economic and environmental benefits of LP gas against the backdrop of the abundant gas resources in the country,’’ he said.
Lawal assured stakeholders of the company’s interest in increasing gas infrastructure in the country as epitomised in her investment running into billions of naira in the sector.
“NIPCO’s commitment to gas sector flows from the Federal Government’s call to promote the gas sector in Nigeria which is gifted with abundant indigenous supply.
The LPG terminal at NIPCO is a state of the art ultra-modern facility with high level of automation and requires very minimal human intervention in its entire operations.
It ranks among the biggest storage facility in Nigeria and undoubtedly contributes to increasing domestic consumption of LPG, popularly referred to as cooking gas, through plethora of promotion activities”.