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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has disclosed that it would bring a Spanish firm, CACCHD for the production of gas in Port Harcourt, South-South region of the Nigeria.
The Authority Chief Executive, Mr. Saidu Mohammed, made the disclosure during the end of his inspection of facilities operated by Stockgap Fuels Limited, Matrix Petrochemical Limited and Central Horizon Gas Company Limited in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, as part of a three-day operational visit to selected midstream and downstream facilities in the state.
Mohammed said the authority is working in line with the terms of compliance already given by President Bola Tinubu, to keenly look at key players within the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector.
He noted that gas is key to industrialization, and the reason Federal Government is much concerned about making gas accessible to Nigerians.
The NMDPRA boss stated: “We said, we will sum up today with a visit to a gas distribution network and you know the government desire to propagate gas and that is why they even questioned about four years ago, to embark on the Decade of Gas initiative.
“Decade of Gas initiative means, what can we do to the gas that God has given us in Nigeria? We have to increase the reserves of gas; we have to increase the utilisation for domestic and for export purposes.
“They (gas) are key to the role of industrialization because one, they will provide a seamless clean energy source for the industries and thereby reducing the cost of production of whatever product that industry or factory is producing.
“And, of course at the end of the day, the consumer price gets lower and that is the ultimate goal of Nigerian government to make sure that this resource not only transits us to cleaner energies because gas itself is a cleaner energy source, but also makes sure that it is used domestically as much as we can because gas is known on its own to propel industrialization. You will see industries springing up wherever gas is.
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“So, gas itself is a marketer of its own self. We have chosen CACCHD Spain to be here partly because they are in the centre of Port Harcourt, in the centre of the South-South region that we have chosen to be here first. And also, in the centre of industrial estate, which is Amadi Estate, and they are serving about 12 customers within this locality.”
Mohammed assured: “And also to bring out the message clearly that what we have to do as an authority is to ensure that we keep on backing them, keep the cooperation that they need to expand, but also to make sure that the expansion is done in a systematic way, in an orderly way, in such a way that franchises are duly delineated in technical and commercial manner that is to the satisfaction of everybody.”
According to the NMDPRA boss,
“transparency is key to us, and we will go and mark the entire nation. We are already in that process.
“We will mark out the entire nation and start allocating those what we call GDLs, gas distribution network companies that will operate in those systems. And thereby keying into the government desire to have gas penetration into the country in all corners of the country.
“We will depend on where the transmission lines reach, but where the transmission pipelines are not there, then, we now rely on these same kinds of companies for what we call the virtual distribution through the compressed natural gas or CNG.
“So, you can see they may be looking small, but they are very, very key in the aspiration of government to make sure gas penetrates every corner of this nation, particularly the industrial, and bring back to the glory where we were before. Industrialization is very, very key to the development of the nation. And as an authority of the mainstream and downstream regulatory of the petroleum industry, we will make sure that we are, of course, back always to be in that path, of course.
“So, what government is doing is to make sure that this penetration is enhanced through whatever means, through provision of the appliances, including the cylinders of gas.
“But, then, as an authority, that is not our business. Our own is to make sure that whatever facility that is coming in meets what standards and regulatory compliances are supposed to be, and they meet it well, and they make sure that we arrive at the final, what do I call it, the cooker. The cooker of the lady using the gas safely, to deliver that progress safely and at the least cost possible.”
He further explained: “You cannot talk about least cost when you don’t have enough, because scarcity itself creates higher prices. But making it abundant, yes, is our own job.
“And that is where we are coming in, to make sure that we give all the necessary backing, given by the laws of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), give all the backings to the players to ensure that those operations are done at the least cost possible. At least cost possible from the production to the transportation to the distribution of the petroleum gas. And that is what our effort will be,” Mohammed assured.
