Techno Oil Begins Commercial Production Of Gas Cylinders 

Yemisi Izuora

The Executive Vice-Chairman of Techno Oil Group, Mrs Nkechi Obi, has expressed readiness of the company to engage in commercial production of gas cylinders to help bridge domestic supply gap.

Obi said the company is now positioned adequately to meet Nigeria’s cylinder needs with the commencement of commercial production of high quality cylinders at the company’s LPG manufacturing plant.

She gave the assurance in Lagos Monday when the Nigerian Army took delivery of LPG cylinders manufactured by the company for the flag off of its LPG Welfare Scheme, aimed at promoting LPG adoption among its officers and men.

The cylinders were produced at Techno Oil’s newly-built LPG manufacturing plant in Lagos, which started rolling out cylinders earlier this year.

The TecnoGas cylinders, which have since secured certifications by various agencies, including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), are being produced in commercial quantities for Nigeria and overseas markets.

On April 11, the army inaugurated a scheme, known as the Nigerian Army Welfare by Guarantee Ltd., and followed up with the inauguration of a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) plant at the Mambila Barracks in Abuja.

The event was witnessed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, who directed that filling stations would henceforth, host LPG plants as part of efforts to deepen cooking gas usage in Nigeria.

Speaking on the development Obi, said that the interest shown by the army in LPG adoption was pivotal in the campaign to promote the use of cleaner energy.

Obi said that Techno Oil could supply any quantity of cylinders desired at the army’s micro-distribution centres, which were established to make officers and men to have easy access to LPG facilities.

According to her, the Techno Oil cylinder manufacturing plant has capacity to produce up to five million LPG cylinders annually, to meet domestic and export needs.

She decried what she described as the high level of sub-standard and used cylinders being imported into the country by unscrupulous businessmen.

Obi said that her plant had been producing different sizes of cylinders and that the plant was built with complete production facilities with a modern laboratory as well as a testing equipment.

She was also excited on the interest shown by the army in the LPG adoption drive, saying that the development would stimulate LPG interest among other key national institutions.

“We are calling on other government agencies, ministries and departments to emulate the army’s gesture of patronising locally-made cylinders and accessories.

“We are ever ready to collaborate with any agency or institution in our bid to deepen LPG adoption in Nigeria,’’ she said.

The executive vice-chairman, however, appealed for government’s support and incentives, to encourage affordability of cylinders to sustain the country’s LPG adoption programme.

Obi also called on government to put stringent measures in place to check importation of LPG cylinders to discourage capital flight.

Techno Oil blazed the trail a few years ago by embarking on local manufacturing of LPG cylinders as part of measures to deepen LPG adoption in the country.

The company has after securing SON certification, obtained the agency’s compulsory MANCAP certification.

The certification was given to Techno Oil after the company successfully completed SON’s rigorous Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme.