TECHNO OIL COLLABORATES WITH CAKASA ON CONSTRUCTION OF LPG TERMINAL

Techno Oil Limited and CAKASA Nigeria Limited have signed a deal for the construction of an automated Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal. The 12,000 metric tonnes capacity project, financed by Access Bank Plc is reputed as the largest of its type in West Africa. The facility being built at the Kirikiri coastline at Apapa in Lagos is expected to boost LPG storage holding in Nigeria.

Speaking at a ceremony to sign an agreement for the project, the Managing Director of Techno Gas and Power, Collins Onyeama, said the project would be completed in November, 2017.

He said the project would be handled by CAKASA in partnership with a leading European firm that had handled similar facilities in Nigeria and other African countries. Onyeama said that the Techno Oil Group is embarking on the project to boost the drive by the Federal Government to increase the consumption of LPG, currently standing at about 400,000 metric tonnes every year in Nigeria.

He said that suitability approval for the construction of the plant had been granted by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and that necessary environmental impact assessments had also been carried out. He expressed optimism that the facility would be a game-changer in getting more Nigerians and people in West Africa to embrace LPG for cleaner, safer and healthier environment.

The Techno Gas boss said the company’s LPG cylinder manufacturing plant being built in Lagos had also been slated for inauguration in February next year. He said the company would commence the installation of 50 units of digital LPG skids at some filling stations next month to make more Nigerians to have easier access to LPG plants.

Onyeama listed some challenges that had made it difficult for most Nigerians to embrace LPG, to including inadequate public awareness on safety, limited refilling plants and high cost of imported cylinders. He suggested that government should use the National Orientation Agency to drive the campaign to switch from firewood and kerosene to cooking gas.

He said: “This will reduce the phobia and improve public awareness that LPG is clean, safe and affordable and also expose the danger inherent in long use of firewood and kerosene.’’

He argued that although the use of cooking gas had increased by about 36.8 per cent in Nigeria in the past three years, over 90 per cent of households still relied on kerosene, firewood and other unhealthy fossils for their energy sources. (Guardian)