The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has called on industry operators, particularly large consumers of petroleum products, to consider moving from the use of diesel to gas in line with the Federal Government’s designation of gas as Nigeria’s transition fuel after the Petroleum Motor Spirit.
NMDPRA’s Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed made the call at a one-day Stakeholders Engagement on Gas Utilisation in Nigeria held at the Bristol Palace Hotel in Kano on Monday.
Ahmed, who was represented by the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, said there was an urgent need for large consumers of diesel to embrace the use of gas which has been designated as Nigeria’s transition fuel.
He noted that it was in this regard that the Federal Government has put in place various initiatives and policy frameworks including the natural gas expansion programme and the decade gas expansion programme.
“The authority empowered by Petroleum Industry Act (2021) is poised to enable the growth of the industry. The twelve regulations recently gazetted unlock the golden opportunities and signpost the pathway to energy security”, he said.
He expressed hope that the engagement would create the necessary awareness and make a compelling case for industry operators to foster a compliance culture which alone guarantees safer and sustainable facilities.
In his remarks, the NMDPRA Northwest Regional Coordinator, Shu’aibu Samuel, said the event was designed to encourage industry operators to shift from the use of diesel to gas in view of the fact that gas is not only cheaper but it’s clean for the environment and has less carbon emission.
“One of the biggest challenges of industries is the supply of power and because of the challenge in the generation of electricity, companies have to rely on the use of generators to power their plants.
“Because of the deregulated environment, the cost of production has increased. So, bringing in gas will help them (industries) stabilise to reduce their cost of production so that we can compete with products in other countries”, he said.
Also speaking, the Executive Director, DSSRI, Mr O. K. Ukoha, enjoined all petroleum handlers to fully comply with provisions of PIA and NMDPRA regulations to avoid strong regulatory enforcement which may adversely impact business operations.
“This engagement sets the objective to enlighten this end-user category on the need to urgently obtain the requisite petroleum storage licence and to engender the transition from white products to gas at the last mile”, he said.
