The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has entered into a strategic partnership with NIPCO Gas Limited to develop 56 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations across the country.

The NNPCL said the partnership was part of its commitment to reducing carbon footprint and providing cheaper alternative fuel to motorists.

Briefing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, August 3, 2023, the NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, said the initiative was in addition to the phased deployment of 56 CNG stations planned by NNPC Retail across the country.

Kyari said the collaboration would expand the country’s CNG infrastructure, improve access to CNG, and accelerate the adoption of cheaper and cleaner alternative fuel to be used by buses, cars, and tricycle, popularly called Keke NAPEP.

Speaking on its price when operational, Kyari said CNG price per kg would be determined by market forces, adding that the price would be very affordable because gas was more stable than petroleum.

He said the project would bring multiple benefits to Nigerians, including access to cheaper fuel, reduced cost of transportation, reduced carbon emission, create new business value chains, and streams of job opportunities.

The NNPCL boss said: “Under the NNPC-NIPCO strategic partnership, 35 state-of-the-art CNG stations will be constructed nationwide, including three Mother stations.

“Once fully operational, the stations can service over 200,000 vehicles daily, thereby significantly reducing carbon emissions and associated impact on climate.

“The project will be rolled out in phases. The first phase, comprising 21 CNG stations, will support intra-city transportation and be ready by the first quarter of 2024.

“The second phase, comprising 35 CNG stations, will support inter-city transformation and will be ready by the first quarter of 2025.”

Kyari stated that the NNPCL has floated NNPC Prime LNG Limited for domestic LNG production and supply, to deepen and sustain the initiative.

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He said the deployment phases would be in short, medium, and long term.

He explained that the short term would cover immediate deployment in major cities, utilising existing NNPC Retail and NIPCOS stations to co-locate the CNG refueling stations, and also provide workshop for vehicle conversion/retrofit.

“The medium term will cover deployment across the country to deepen the utilisation across the country to provide more vehicle conversion workshops and partner with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMS) for supply of re-fuelling stations, conversion kits LNG/CNG trucks, among others.

“The long term will cover In-Country Production to capture and penetrate regional markets with design and production of key refueling equipment, conversion kits among others,” Kyari said.

Kyari noted that the NNPCL was also collaborating with Miju Auto Gas, a leading CNG kit OEM based in India, to set up training and conversion centres to facilitate in-country conversion of vehicles from petrol to CNG.

He said NIPCO Gas Limited is currently operating 14 CNG stations across Nigeria and has converted over 7,000 vehicles to run on CNG.

Speaking, the NIPCO Managing Director, Nagendra Verma, said working with NNPCL would deepen gas utilisation.

Verma, while stating that NIPCO has 12 years experience in the distribution of auto CNG, said the company would continuously work with NNPCL towards gas market expansion.

He assured that NIPCO would meet the expectations of Nigerians in providing economic fuel.

The Star