Ejiofor Alike
As the federal government shifts emphasis to the use of gas as vehicular fuel, leading integrated energy giant, NIPCO Plc and Femadec Express have entered into a collaboration that will encourage more gas-fired vehicles and also deepen the use of gas for domestic and industrial purposes
NIPCO’s Assistant General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Alhaji Taofeeq Lawal, who revealed this development in a statement, further stated that the collaboration would lead to an increase in the number of natural gas-powered vehicles in Nigeria beyond the present figure of over 7,000.
NIPCO Gas Limited, a leader in the AutoGas industry, Lawal said, is partnering with Femadec Express on the scheme. According to him, both companies recently entered into a partnership that will see Femadec Express leverage on NIPCO Gas capacity and Auto CNG (Compress Natural Gas) distribution network in several states.
“NIPCO Gas currently has Retail CNG dispensing facilities at Ibafo, Benin, Ajaokuta, Okene, and Abuja – where it dispenses AutoGas to over 7,000 vehicles; it is the only Nigerian company that has state-of-the-art workshops at Benin City, Ibafo and Abuja, for conversion of vehicles to dual fuel usage – it has an inventory of conversion kits for all makes of vehicles.
“Plans are underway to increase its CNG infrastructures by adding 40 AutoCNG stations to its footprint. Most of these stations will include workshops for the conversion of vehicles. In the near term, cities such as Lekki – Epe Exp (Lagos), Ibadan, Oron etc will have similar facilities, ” Lawal explained.
“In 2007, the Federal Government granted licence to NIPCO Plc to implement the pilot project of the CNG project to enable vehicles use gas as auto fuel as an alternative to white oils in Benin city and its environs
“The project recorded notable successes as several vehicles were converted to run on Natural Gas, however, the unavailability of CNG stations to service the converted vehicles were noted as a downside to the project,” Lawal added.
According to him, NIPCO Gas Limited, a subsidiary of NIPCO Plc, successfully implemented the pilot project in Benin city with nine operational CNG stations catering to over 4,300 NGVs (Natural Gas Vehicles) in Benin and 700 NGVs in Ibafo, Ogun State. He further disclosed that the company also developed the capacity to convert petrol-powered vehicles to Auto CNG vehicles with the use of a conversion kit.
“As such it is not only factory-produced vehicles that can enjoy the benefits of using Natural Gas, NIPCO can convert PMS/AGO vehicles to CNG vehicles,” he added.
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