Autogas : DPR Boss Says Only Rich Will Use Petrol Cars by 2022
As Federal Government (FG) indicates that automobile in Nigeria will begin to run on gas, there are indications that affordability will play
a major role for those that prefer running petroleum motor spirit (PMS).
In the next few years, Mr Sarki Auwalu, Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), says the Federal Government is committed to ensuring that majority of vehicles in Nigeria are fueled by autogas.
Auwalu made the assertion on Wednesday, during the oversight visit of
the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream)
to the DPR headquarters in Lagos.
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He said with the current move being championed by FG to convert vehicles
to be able to use Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas
(CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), only rich individuals would be
using petrol for their cars in two years time.
The DPR director said that gas was a cheaper and cleaner alternative to
Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, stressing that
deepening gas utilisation would mitigate the impact of the recent
deregulation of the PMS sector.
“Nigerians should have a choice of energy they want to use. That is
price freedom. We want motorists to switch to autogas (CNG, LPG, or LNG)
because it is cheaper and cleaner than petrol.
“In the next two years, PMS will be for people who have money. We believe that this will reduce the cost of transportation, which will
positively affect other sectors of the economy, “the DPR boss said.
Auwalu said that engagements with stakeholders had already started on
the conversion and colocation of autogas at existing petrol stations
across the country.
He said that with a proven gas reserve of 203TCF, Nigeria was a major
gas country, but unfortunately, gas utilisation was only about 5.5 per
cent, which was still very low despite the progress made in the last 10
years.
The DPR helmsman said that apart from autogas, government was also
committed to utilisation of gas for industries, power, agriculture and
cooking, and it had demonstrated this commitment through various
initiatives and policies.
“President Muhammadu Buhari declared the year 2020 as the Year of Gas,
and programmes are being implemented towards achieving this, such as the
Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) and flag-off of
the National Gas Transportation Network Code (NGTNC).
“It also includes the ongoing Marginal Field Bid Round, flag-off of
the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline and
Committee on Gas Sector-Wide Review of the Domestic Gas Pricing
Framework,” Auwalu said.
He said that with the deregulation of PMS, more investors were showing
interest in establishing modular refineries in addition to the seven
refineries already at various levels of completion.
Auwalu said: “By 2022, Nigeria will become a net exporter of petroleum
products because all these refineries under construction will come
on-stream.
“We are looking at about 750, 000BPD and that is excluding the four
refineries owned by the government.”
He noted that the 10 per cent contribution of the petroleum sector to
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was unacceptable, as it had the
potential of contributing more.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Musa Adar, said that
the purpose of the visit was to familiarise the lawmakers with the
activities of the DPR and its impact on the nation’s economy.
Adar said that the DPR needed to be strengthened to effectively
discharge its regulatory duties and called for more cooperation between
the committee and the agency.
Nigeria is rich in gas production and supply, the move to autogas would
not only reduce emission but as well offer cheaper alternative to
automobile users.
Autogas : DPR Boss Says Only Rich Will Use Petrol Cars by 2022
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