Techno Oil builds 3bn LPG plant …..to produce 5 million cylinders annually

By Oluwagbenga Bankole

Techno Oil Limited has embarked on the construction of a multi-million naira Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) cylinder manufacturing plant in Lagos, to produce 5 million units of cylinders annually.

The construction of the plant valued at over N3 billion, which is expected to offer no fewer than 1,000 jobs to Nigerians has since commenced at Lekki, Lagos.  

Currently, the machines fabrication and construction of the plant, are being monitored in strict compliance to regulatory standards as stipulated by Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Cotechna, e.t.c

The Executive Vice-Chairman of Techno Oil, Mrs. Nkechi Obi, told energy correspondents in Lagos today that the plant was being constructed in partnership with a European firm which has built similar plants in over 15 African and Asian countries.

Obi said that her company embarked on the project as part of its contribution to the drive by the Federal Government to deepen LPG and encourage more Nigerians to embrace the use of LPG which is clean, safe and affordable.

She said that although the use of cooking gas had increased by about 36.8 per cent in Nigeria in the past three years, over 80 per cent of households still relied on kerosene, firewood and other dangerous energy sources.

She says that Nigeria has a population of over 170 million people, yet the country has less than one million cooking gas cylinders in circulation.

                                 

``The huge capital expended annually on the importation of LPG cylinders is a monumental loss to this country. 

``With the completion of this project, Nigeria will curb this huge capital flight which is estimated at N5 billion annually and further reduce the depletion of our foreign reserve.

She expressed optimism that the Techno Oil LPG manufacturing plant would assist in checking capital flight suffered by Nigeria in importing cylinders and the huge kerosene subsidy estimated at over N150 billion annually, will be saved

According to her this will enable government to save the high cost expended every year to import LPG cylinders from India, China, Turkey and other Asian countries.

``This gap is what Techno Oil has positioned itself to provide solution to by making sure that high quality LPG cylinders are produced locally.

“The plant will be completed by November this year. We have the capacity to cater for the need of the Nigerian/West African populace. Hence, we do not foresee any organization importing cylinders in the nearest future.

Obi said there was need to exploit Nigeria’s huge gas reserve, estimated at about 187tcf.

The industrialist lamented that Nigeria still ranked lowest in sub-Saharan Africa in per capita usage of LPG, consuming 1.1kg compared with Ghana at 3.0kg.``South Africa consumes 5.5kg, while Morocco consumes 44kg per capita.

The Techno Oil chief argued that making more Nigerians to embrace cooking gas instead of using firewood would help in the drive to sustain the environment and preserve the fragile Eco-system.

Obi listed some challenges that had been making it difficult for more Nigerians to embrace LPG, citing inadequate public awareness on safety, limited distributive outlets such as refilling plants and high cost of LPG cylinders amongst others.

The private sector cannot do it alone. Hence, our humble submission is for government to handle the issue of awareness and also provide enabling environment, financial and infrastructural incentives. While the private sector will undertake the other projects, such as Techno oil is doing today, we submit that government should do a one-off subsidy intervention by subsidizing cylinders to households. We also commend government for the CBN SME facility.

Government should use the National Orientation Agency to propagate the campaign to switch from firewood/kerosene to cooking gas. 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.

``LPG or cooking gas users find it extremely difficult to refill their cylinders. ``Sometimes they travel as far as 200km before they can access facilities to refill their cylinders. ``Our desire is for government to provide incentives for investors to build refilling plants and terminals and DPR to incorporate LPG plants in all mega stations within reach of communities so that people can refill their cylinders with ease and at an affordable cost.

It is on the basis of these realities that Techno Oil started our advocacy on “Going Green” “for a switch from firewood/kerosene to LPG. Our passion for cleaner environment and safety of our women enabled us incorporate it as part of our corporate social responsibility. Our main objective is to create awareness for a switch to LPG.

In furtherance to our advocacy in the last five years, to increase the number and popularize cooking gas usage among women, we have aggressively distributed over 50,000 units of gas stoves at discounted prices through market women across the country, and also donated to some indigent households.

``Cooking with firewood is a silent killer because firewood smoke is more dangerous than cigarette smoke.’’

Citing a recent World Health Organization report, she said that cooking with firewood often resulted to indoor pollution, which globally accounted for over 4 million deaths every year.

Obi, who received Federal Government’s commendation few years ago for the `Going Green’ initiative of her company’s effort in popularizing cooking gas, said she was looking forward to when most Nigerian households would embrace the use LPG and reduce danger to our women.

``Why must we continue to decimate our women population and keep pretending as if nothing is happening?

When Techno Oil LPG cylinder production plant is completed, it will deepen LPG consumption, create a clean, safe and healthier environment, make cylinders more available and affordable, create jobs and reduce the depletion of our foreign reserves through importation.

And finally, the Techno Oil LPG Cylinder Manufacturing Plant when fully operational, would also offer value added services to the cooking gas users through integrated cylinder integrity testing facility. This would be a relief because most cylinder users do not have access to the facility that helps to test the integrity of their cylinders.