…Partners Netherland on fuel quality
By Idirs Bakare
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has disclosed that it will be at the forefront of supporting programs that would prioritize Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) adoption for cleaner cooking fuels in the country.
This was made at the 16th Oil Trading and Logistics Expo in Lagos on Monday.
The Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, said that NMDPRA is fully aligned with the upstream sector counterpart (NUPRC) in delivering optimal regulatory service and driving the use of gas through the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Program.
He explained that working with key stakeholders to unlock the huge demand opportunities for use of gas would transform the economic fortunes of the Country.
Farouk said the authority would facilitate accelerated development of all key initiatives and projects that would guarantee optimal supply of gas from the abundant natural gas resources of Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme tagged “Regulating downstream energy transition in dynamic times”, he said the country is removing subsidies on petrol by the end of May 2022 and ensuring a full liberalisation of the downstream petroleum sector.
He expressed that the Authority is addressing the issue of fuel quality through strategic collaboration with key stakeholders in the petroleum products value chain such as the Netherland Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), the NNPC Limited, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
He said the authority would also leverage the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to spur gas development.
According to him, this will include concessionary royalties on domestic gas supply, concessionary tax regime for domestic gas infrastructure and co-financing of strategic gas investments.
“We will develop an investor friendly economic model for the domestic gas market by promoting the use of LPG as a cleaner cooking fuel alternative to biomass.
“Recent research has demonstrated that transition to LPG for clean cooking reduces air pollutants and overall global temperature reduction by year 2040.
“However, today that dominance is being aggressively challenged by renewable energy sources.
“We are currently experiencing major developments in energy supply globally, with discussions on energy demand rapidly evolving and rallying around the need for energy supply to be guaranteed through cleaner and more sustainable sources.
“These discussions have metamorphosed into a compelling strategic case, which has emplaced another energy transition in this century,” he added.
Furthermore, he said the authority was addressing the issue of fuel quality through strategic collaboration with key stakeholders in the petroleum products value chain such as Netherland Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT).
He said authority was also collaborating with NNPC Ltd., Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
In his words “Our collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service led to the suspension of import license for land border importation of petroleum products in order to eliminate sharp practices and enhance quality control.
“Further collaborations with NNPC Ltd., SON, NCS, Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE) and other key stakeholders on improving the standards of fuel utilised in Nigeria will continue,”
Also speaking at the event, , the Chief Executive Office, National Petroleum Authority, Ghana, Mr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid explained that Ghanaian government was also developing a 60 billion-dollar petroleum hub project on 20,000 acres in the western part of the country for storage and marine facilities.
“All the above-mentioned projects will help accelerate the petroleum hub, consisting of refineries, petrochemical development of the continent’s oil and gas resources, by connecting the downstream to the upstream.
“It will promote cleaner fossil fuels and biofuels as the pathway to a just energy transition.
“Gas has been accepted as the transition fuel because gas is the least carbon emitting fossil fuel.
“Therefore, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a transportation fuel for example should be promoted in the downstream.
”The use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as a cleaner cooking fuel should also be encouraged,” said Abdul-Hamid.
He said government regulations played a vital role in ensuring that the implementation of a just transition where there were no drastic job losses and no stranded oil and gas assets on the continent.
He said regulations and incentives led to greater innovation, and in turn, allowed companies to commercialise more rapidly oil and gas assets. “We must, therefore, steer our countries towards low carbon economies and net zero energy sector, but prioritise economic growth and development in the process