12th July, 2019
An indigenous gas company, Gasco Marine Limited has launched a N2 billion Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) plant in Oke-Sokori, Abeokuta, Ogun State to meet the demand of consumers in Ogun, Lagos, Oyo, and other southwest states.
The plant, which has an installed capacity of 144,000 standard cubic metres per day, extends virtual pipeline for gas supply to emerging corporate organisations in an industrial hub in the South-West region.
The goal of Gasco Marine is to enhance productivity and ease the cost of doing business in Nigeria, an objective that is in line with the goals of the Buhari-led government.
Inaugurating the plant in Abeokuta, the former Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola praised the feat achieved by the local firm, calling for increased local investments in the gas business to realise its potential benefits to Nigeria.
He said more investments in the gas sector would enable Nigerians put gas into more productive uses and also help the country save billions of dollars often lost to fuel importation.
While commending the rising figure of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the country, the former minister specifically urged local businessmen to emulate the firm in investing in the business.
“We can continue to talk about gas flaring and carbon emissions and their negative impacts on the environment, but the situation will not change unless we do something about it,” he said.
Fashola, who commended the initiative, said such investment in gas would help government in protecting the environment for future generations.
Stressing the advantages in the use of gas, Fashola said that “there is about 60 per cent cost saving in the deployment of gas as an alternative to inefficient and polluting diesel.”
He also emphasised the benefit of employment generation through the value chain of gas production, processing, storage and distribution.
Gasco Marine’s Managing Director, Bukola Badejo-Okusanya said the company aimed to target up to one million vehicles/trucks to switch to natural gas from diesel and petrol, thus increasing its market share, while the mother station will account for 15 per cent of established plant capacity in the Southern region.
He said the company would continue to deepen its delivery of gas to various manufacturing concerns and power plants, offering at least 40 per cent savings over diesel generators, among other benefits.
“The project has led to the creation of direct and indirect employment. The construction of the CNG mother station led to the creation of 137 new jobs; during the construction phase, a total of 20 skilled workers and 80 unskilled workers, including 40 male and 40 female workers were employed,” he said.