The Federal Government has called for more collaborations and interventions from gas investors, industry operators and stakeholders to Improve domestic gas utilisation.

The Executive Director, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regularly Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, made the call in Port Harcourt during stakeholders’ engagement on gas utilisation in Nigeria.

Ahmed said though the efforts of the Petroleum Industrial Act (2021), which was established within the Authority mainstream and downstream gas infrastructure funds to catalyse gas investments is significant, noted that more needs to be done to ensure that gas is delivered to Nigerians at very cheaper rate.

According to him, “the authority empowered by the PIA is poised to enable the growth of the industry. The 12 regulations recently gazetted unlock the golden opportunities and signpost the partway to energy security ”

Also speaking, the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha, said one of the challenges of gas utilisation in Nigeria is that the entry barrier and initial capital outlay is very high.

He stated: “Here we are in the South South, where we have the highest value of infrastructural investment and production of gas being undertaken but when you measure and compare that with consumed and utilise gas then you will see a huge gap.

Ukoha said, convincing someone, who uses firewood to cook to acquire a gas cooker, gas cylinder and refill the cylinder regularly is quite a difficult thing to ask.

According to him, Nigeria is a signatory to treaties on environmentally friendly energy sources, so, gas has been designated as the country’s transition fuel targeting 30 years to 50 years full implementation.

“The law requires that if you have storage for more than 500 litres of diesel as well as handling volumes of petroleum products much more then you need to apply for the relevant licence.

“Secondly, we are also saying to these heaviest users of diesel that they need to begin to consider to converting to gas as their source of fuel. This is because gas is cheap and ultimately a cleaner source of energy.”

He said, the Federal Government has in the last few years developed programmes like Gas expansion and Gas programmes to bridge this gap.

On his part, the Executive Chairman, Rivers State branch of the Petroleum Product, Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Francis Dimkpa, called for ease of penetration of gas utilisation through the mechanisms of PETROAN.

According to him, the association has taken major steps forward to penetrate LPG to the kitchen, vehicles, trucks, generators and factories, among others to the end users.

“The major and most important factor is that Nigeria has taken a major step towards deepening gas utilisation and penetration in the country.

“However, there are still several challenges to upturn, ranging from regulation issues; cost of establishment; issues on facilities and many more.”