By Oke Peter
An oil company based in Nigeria, NIPCO, says it has converted about engines of 5,600 vehicles using petrol to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as it is cost effective.
The Managing Director of NIPCO, Mr Sanjay Teotia, said this in a statement issued by the Manager, Corporate Communications, NIPCO, Mr Taofeek Lawal, on Thursday in Lagos.
According to him, the conversion is part of the company’s efforts aimed at providing access and an alternative for motorists to power their automobiles.
Taotia said that the conversion of the 5, 600 vehicles were done at the company’s workshops in Benin, Edo and Ibafo in Ogun.
He said the gas sector of the economy had gone through series of legislations including the Gas Master Plan aimed primarily at addressing some of the challenges through proffering solutions to boost the economy.
“NIPCO has since 2009 when it diversified into gas been supporting government’s efforts at harnessing the nation’s gas resources through massive investmens in pipelines infrastructure and construction of stations for both LPG and CNG across the nation.
“We have inaugurated nine CNG stations and a compression station to aid natural gas access and utilisation across the country.
“A total of 5,600 vehicles have been converted to use CNG at the company’s workshops in Benin, Edo State and Ibafo, Ogun State.
“This is one of the organisation’s efforts at providing access and alternative to motorists to enable them power their vehicles,’’ he said.
Taotia added that the inauguration of the compression station at Ibafo in 2016, with a total capacity of 300.000 SCMD gas was now being transported in cascades to other areas not linked with pipelines.
“The diversification of the company’s operations in natural gas has created lots of employment opportunities for technicians and thus aiding local content in the industry.
“The company’s efforts in the industry are now exposing Nigerians to the latest technology in gas compression and conversion of vehicles.
“Continuous exposure of Nigerian technicians to plethora of natural gas projects had provided veritable avenue for them to gravitate properly in this very technical aspect of converting vehicles to run on gas,’’ Taotia added.
He expressed delight to be part of the Nigerian Gas Revolution with specific emphasis on the gains, challenges and opportunities; and how it affects the industry and our national development.
