AKK Will Crash CNG Price – CIL
A partner of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), CleanEnergy Innovation Limited (CIL), has said that the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will crash when the Ajaokuta Kaduna Kano (AKK) Gas pipeline begins production.
The state-owned NNPCL, Group Chief Executive Officer, Malam Mele Kyari, had said the AKK will be completed by the First Quarter of 2025.
But addressing reporters after the opening ceremony of the NNPCL CNG station opposite Prince and Princess Estate, Abuja, the CIL, Executive Vice Chairman, Shettima Bukhar Imam, said AKK will transport the gas while other stations will produce and supply it seamlessly,
Allaying fears that increased demand will result in higher prices of CNG, he explained what is accountable for the soaring price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol in comparison to CNG.
He said: “If you produce at the refinery, you have to truck it, and when you truck it, you have to pay extra costs, and the government has to bear the cost.
“That’s why you always have higher costs, and that’s why the government is paying extra money for transport and other costs.
“So once we have this AKK, the gas will seamlessly move, and then the other stations will just produce and then supply to these stations seamlessly.”
Imam noted that the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol has become experienced because the pipelines are no longer conveying the product.
The pipelines, he said, can transport gas to all the country’s zones.
Insisting the CNG price will nosedive in future, the Executive Vice Chairman insisted “I mean, the long, medium and long term, prices will come down, and then we will adequately utilize the abundance gas and make it available for Nigerians.”
He also said only 3% of the country’s gas is deployed to CNG production, stressing there will be no shortage that can raise its price.
Imam said CNG will bring a cheaper, cleaner alternative to PMS which will bring down the cost, and create more job opportunities and so many other advantages for the country and citizenry.
According to him, there is limited capacity for petrol it is imported, unlike the CNG that is in abundance in Nigeria.
Imam further noted that since the demand is relative, it will be relative to the extent of how fast the country moves on to produce the infrastructure.
He said it will require “proper information dissemination, telling people the advantages, showing the advantages of the CNG vis-a-vis other petroleum products, and bringing in all the components, safety aspect of it, the proper usage of it.
“Once people start to see the advantages, which is literally and largely based on us putting in the right engineers, the right environment, the right mechanics, the right resources, human resources, to make sure that the combustion and the kits and everything are working as kind of relative.”
At the opening ceremony, he described it as one of the six ongoing stations.
He added that while three have already been completed, three will be completed by next week.
Imam stressed, “So, we all had all the speeches and the importance of CNG in Nigeria and why CNG is strategically imperative at this particular period in the Nigerian oil and gas journey.”
He explained that CIL collaborates with NNPC, NRL, to provide and install and procure, and dispense CNG across the country.
He said the firm has a contract to do more in Abuja and Lagos.
Imam said aside NNPCL contract on CNG, CIL has invested its resources in the industry.
He added that the firm has invested more of its resources to attract more markets in generators, pipes, and other sector.
Asked to state the specific roles his firm plays in the NNPCL partnership, he said CIL plays diverse roles ranging from planning, creation and provision of innovative ideas.
Imam also revealed that the firm is supportive of NNPCL “through ideas, through creating the right environment, advising and, you know, giving the skill brought to the engineers, human resources and so other resources to make it happen.”
The Executive Vice Chairman said despite the exchange rate the CNG will survive because of its readily available investment.
He said CIL can mitigate the situation to strike a balance that can mitigate the forex and other challenges.