The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has inaugurated 12 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Lagos and Abuja.
The newly-built CNG stations were simultaneously inaugurated on Thursday by Ekperikpe Ekpo, minister of state for petroleum resources (gas).
According to the national oil firm, the facilities include six CNG stations in Abuja, constructed through its subsidiary NNPC Retail Ltd and six CNG-Autogas stations in Lagos and Abuja, via NNPC Gas Marketing Limited and NIPCO Gas Limited.
Speaking at the occasion, Ekpo said the commissioning of the stations would provide economic benefits by creating jobs and boosting local economies.
He said it will also contribute significantly to Nigeria’s national goals of lowering emissions and combating climate change.
The minister commended NNPC for ensuring that CNG is available for Nigerians.
On his part, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of NNPC, said in addition to the deployment of CNG stations nationwide, the firm and its partners would also build three liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations in Ajaokuta.
“There is simply no way to turn back on delivering CNG for all Nigerians,” Kyari said.
“It is the right thing to do. Is it late? Yes, but we will make progress, we will cover the gap in order to ensure that the volatility we see with Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) does not apply to gas.”
Also speaking, Huub Stokman, managing director at NNPC Retail, said in the next one year, the retail company would launch over 100 CNG sites, including 16 NNPC Gas Marketing and NIPCO Gas joint venture (JV) sites.
“CNG provides Nigeria with affordable alternatives to existing available fuel products. It will be about 40% cheaper than petrol in Nigeria and with continued investments, it will become a significant part of our energy mix,” Stokman added.
According to the national oil company, NNPC Gas Marketing, in partnership with NIPCO Gas Limited, has developed an Auto-CNG rollout plan for the construction of 35 CNG stations across several geographical zones in Nigeria.