The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company has disclosed that it has begun operations at its integrated gas handling facility.
It also stated that the facility has the capacity to covert gas that would otherwise have been flared, thereby generating more revenue for the company.
The Managing Director of NPDC, Mansur Sambo, disclosed to journalists that the company sold its gas to local buyers in Naira, thereby reducing the demand pressure for foreign exchange. The company had in the past required that local buyers pay in dollars.
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He said, “The project will bring significant change to the income of the NPDC. It will bring significant change to the environment because we are substantially taking away the amount of gas that would have been flared.
“Today we are converting it into naira. You may ask me why naira? We are an indigenous company and we are happy to take naira. Today, naira is even more scarce than the dollar.”
President, Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday, in a virtual ceremony inaugurate the IGHF, and the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Storage and Dispensing Unit in Ologbo, Edo State..
Although the project commissioning is taking place today, the Mansur noted that the company has already begun its operations.
“We are already selling gas and we want to be ahead of our competitors by making it easy for people who lift gas,” he said.
The NPDC boss added, “Before now, most of the gas liftings are from Lagos. So this will ease even the traffic congestion you have in Lagos. For businessmen it will give them a faster turnaround time.”
He further disclosed that the excess gas produced from the IGHF was being exported to neighbouring West African countries .
Sambo said, “We are exporting to some African countries. The gas we produce is injected into the Escravos Lagos Pipeline. Part of what goes into the ELP is distributed in the domestic market for companies such as the Egbin Power Plant, among others.
“There is a portion of it that goes to the West African Gas Pipeline and the WAGP is actually a customer of the NPDC and so we export some of the gas.”
He added, “Our income is coming in dollars from sales to our neighbours, but the gas we sell domestically is paid for in naira. And NPDC is the largest gas supplier to the domestic market.”
