The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has expressed commitment to aggressively grow local consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, even as it targets 10% market share of the global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed this on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the 8th Annual Conference and Exhibition in Abuja.
The GMD who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Engr. Henry Obih, said that the Corporation was determined to invest in making LPG available to Nigerians to discourage the current trend of using firewood and other unsafe means for cooking, stressing that it was time to bring LPG closer to the people and at affordable price.
In a presentation entitled: “Strategic Direction – Driving Nigeria’s LPG Future”, the GMD said significant investment has been made by the Corporation to address the challenges of products deficit.
He listed some of the projects aimed at deepening LPG consumption in the country to include: expansion of NNPC LPG storage facility at Apapa from 4,000mt to 8,000mt in the first phase; construction of pipelines to deliver LPG to plants in the hinterland; and development of coastal supply facilities.
“We have also purchased two LPG vessels for export operations through the West African Gas Ltd (WAGL), a joint venture firm, and we have developed a growth strategy plan and gradually providing LPG skids across NNPC Retail outlets”, he stressed.
On the global scene, Dr. Baru declared that NNPC was doing everything to leverage on the nation’s enormous gas reserve to secure about 10% of the global market share of traded LNG.