NCDMB, Partners underway with dogmas solutions

• Nigerian Content soars to 35%
• 420,000 mmscf/d CPFs for commissioning

Sopuruchi Onwuka

A slew of based gas projects supported by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) might provide unusual resolution to the prevailing domestic gas crunch which has seen cooking gas prices shooting up since the second half of the year.

The projects which host commercial equity investments by the NCDMB comprise gas production, gas processing, modular refinery and gas cylinder production for local distribution of the prized liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), also called cooking gas.

The agency which champions indigenous capacity building, local enterprises in the petroleum industry and national industrial development declared weekend that four of its 23 assisted projects in the country would reach commissioning by December.

Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, stated at an executive briefing at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in Abuja that all the initial projects to come online are gas related.

He spoke at the one-day workshop on the “NCDMB Roadmap, A Catalyst for the Industrialization of Nigeria 2017-2027,” organised by the Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.  

He listed the projects to include the Rungas facility which holds manufacturing capacity for 400,000 units of composite LPG cylinders per annum. the production facility is located in Polaku, Bayelsa State.

Another project in which the NCDMB has sown investments seeds is the 48,000 litres per day BUNORR base oil production plant in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Next are the 80 million standard cubic feet per day gas processing facility upgrade and expansion project by NEDO Gas; 300 million standard cubic feet per day KGG manifold in Delta State; DUPORT Midstream Ltd’s Energy Park which hosts 2,500 barrels per day modular refinery, 40 million standard cubic feet per day gas processing plant and 2 megawatts power plant.  

The Oracle Today reports that all the projects approaching commissioning hold the potential to contribute to rapid resolution of the cooking gas crunch in the country, and ease the prevailing retail price jumps which have unsettled families.

 Flow of gas from production sites and processing plants could also settle the raging dispute between local gas distributors and large scale producers over security of supply.

Besides the gas based projects that form the low hanging fruits, Engr Wabote informed the delegates at the workshop that NCDMB is also supporting 11 gas storage and distribution facilities partnership with Buthane Energy Limited.

He explained that five of the facilities are LPG storage and bottling plants while six of them are LPG Depots. He added that the projects are located in 10 northern states and Abuja. He said six of the facilities would be commissioned in the first quarter of 2022 and the rest in the fourth quarter.

The 11 porojects, he pointed out, hold potential to create 1,900 direct, indirect, and induced jobs.  

Other projects the NCDMB has supported with equity investments are development of a 24 megawatts power plant at Takwa Bay, Lagos State in partnership with the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) to provide uninterrupted power supply to the free zone which hosts key facilities required to service the oil and gas industry.

Engr Wabote hinted that the project is expected to generate 400 jobs.  

The Oracle Today reports that the investment partnerships forged by the NCDMB for a range of projects that include modular refineries, LPG value chain, and others could boost supply of various fuel products across the country.

Engr Wabote stated that that the agency has 23 project sites spread across Abuja, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Delta, Edo, Gombe and Imo State. Others are located in Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger Plateau, Rivers, and Zamfara states.  

He said the NCDMB committed equity investments into strategic the projects because, according to him, they align with government’s policies. He explained that the investments are intended to catalyze the projects to success, adding that  the NCDMB would divest its stakes in the ventures once they become successful.

He also emphasized that the investments were also in line with the Board’s vision “to be a catalyst for the industrialization of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.”

Engr Wabote also presented the agency’s 10 year roadmap to the ministry, saying that the programme has recorded considerable progress. He also pointed out that the prime target of building the Nigerian Content of the petroleum industry to 70 percent by 2027 has attained 50 percent success in just four years.

He declared that the Nigerian Content of the petroleum industry has in the period progressed from 26 percent to 35 percent. He pledged that 70 percent Nigerian Content of the industry would be realized on schedule.

He described the $350 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, which provides affordable and accessible credit to qualified oil and gas companies, as one of the most successful financing schemes in the country with 99 percent debt recovery rate.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Nasir Sani Gwarzo, lauded NCDMB on the success of its programmes. He added that the agency has remained focused on the delivery if its key mandates and impacted linkage sectors.   

Dr Gwarzo charged Engr Wabote to remain committed to deepening local content implementation for the benefit of the economy and Nigerians.  

He said the workshop was the first edition of enlightenment series conceived to educate personnel in the ministry on the operations of agencies under the ministry.

He promised to deliver a report on the workshop to the Head of Service of the Federation and expressed hope that other ministries would inaugurate similar programmes and use them to build an informed and reformed civil service.  

The Oracle Today reports that the presentation by Engr Wabote clearly indicates that huge volumes of gas molecules from the facilities in development might form the unusual sources of various specifications of gas to meet domestic demand.