The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, announced that Nigeria’s cooking gas storage capacity has increased to 69,968MT. He revealed this while inaugurating the 8,400 MT capacity Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal in Kirikiri, Lagos, built by Techno Oil.

According to NANS report, Chief Timipre Sylva, who was represented by Dr Musa Zaki, Deputy Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), commended the company on this great milestone, both in its operation and in meeting the national aspiration. He said that with the inauguration of this facility, there are now 12 LPG depots in the country, with a total storage capacity of 69,698MT.

The Minister explained that 2020 is a year in which the national economy was planned for expansion with the abundant natural gas resources of the country. He emphasized that with the 8,400MT automated terminal, the company was no doubt set to provide end to end solution in the domestic LPG industry.

According to him, the great milestone reached by the company is in line with the national aspiration of deepening LPG (cooking gas) in the country and that the LPG gas terminal will facilitate job and wealth creation by reducing deforestation and greenhouse emissions and promoting domestic gas value chain development in the nation.

However, the LPG terminal is expected to pivot Lagos State and Nigeria at large to a gas-powered economy, which would offer an array of economic and environmental benefits to its residents. The terminal is expected to generate up to 2,000 jobs in the months ahead.

Chief Timipre Sylva said, “The commissioning of this facility is definitely a good contribution to the two aspirations mentioned above in addition to environment protection, job, and wealth creation by reducing deforestation and greenhouse emissions and promoting domestic gas value chain development.

“With the inauguration of this facility, there are now 12 LPG depots in the country, with a total storage capacity of 69,698MT. However, the Nigerian LPG market is still not saturated, there are huge opportunities for further investments in the entire domestic gas value chain.

“These include gas processing, transportation and distribution, storage, retail, manufacturing of equipment and provision of services.

Commenting on the milestone, Mrs. Nkechi Obi, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Techno Oil, said,

“We plead with the government to provide funding to industrialists in building key facilities such as the one being commissioned. The government should consider reactivating its butanization plants and also building new ones across the country to guarantee LPG availability nationwide.

“Similarly, it is also time for the government to embark on a media campaign to sensitize the populace on the benefits of LPG over other cooking fuels. More so, government agencies and regulatory bodies should enforce the rules to sanitize the space for a safe and profitable business environment.

“We remain thankful to the Lagos State government for being a worthy host by providing the much appreciated conducive environment for our business to thrive. This is yet another of our numerous projects that is being hosted in Lagos; we thank you from the bottom of our heart.”