Each LNG truck has the capacity to generate about five megawatts of electricity which would go a long way in addressing the country’s power deficit.
Adewale Sanyaolu
Greenville Oil and Gas Limited has inaugurated a $500 million Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Plant in a bid to assist the country boost its electricity generation and supply.
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Speaking at the inauguration of the project in Rumuji, Rivers State, the Managing Director of the company, Ritu Sahajwalla, said the coming on stream of the LNG plant would go a long way in resolving the country’s power sector crisis.
Sahajwalla explained that part of the problems causing poor electricity supply to consumers in Nigeria was the rot in infrastructure, especially the pipelines conveying gas to some of the thermal power plants in the country.
She explained that the absence of functional gas pipelines in Nigeria had made it difficult to convey stranded power to thermal plants.
Sahajwalla added that such stranded power are available in West, North and Eastern parts of the country, giving assurance that the LNG produced by her company would help bridge the gap.
And to achieve the initiative, she said Greenville has procured about 100 trucks that would convey produced LNG from its plants to power plants across the country and to other end users in need of the product.
The Greenville boss disclosed that each LNG truck has the capacity to generate about five megawatts of electricity which would go a long way in addressing the country’s power deficit.
She lamented that most companies in the North of Nigeria, especially those operating in the textile sector, have been forced to move their operations to the Southern part of the country as a result of shortage in electricity supply.
“Imagine the poor economies of scale involved in the movement of cotton from Kaduna to Lekki in Lagos. So we keep on creating the disequilibrium and I don’t think anyone is noticing that. We are able to notice that because we are talking to those concerned and they have expressed their frustrations to us.”
Sahajwalla noted that the Greenville LNG initiative would have a lot of ripple effects on the economy, saying that it would create thousands of jobs and save millions of dollars for the country on Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) imports.
She advised Government to take conscious efforts in ensuring that policies that would help grow the LNG sector and gradually shift away from the use of dirty fuel are put in place.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Company, Mr. Eddy van den Broeke, said the inauguration marks the first phase of the LNG plant with a daily production capacity of 2,250 tons and 750 million tons per year. Van den Broeke, who described the capacity as smaller when compared to the Nigeria LNG plant in Bonny Island, Rivers State, however, noted that the project is relevant on the general scale and should be considered a revolution in the industry, especially with the operational environment.
The Greenville boss, however, expressed his disappointment on government’s attitude towards foreign investors saying, “when you bring your money to invest in Nigeria, you are on your own because no one helps you, not even government agencies and that is a major setback for investors,” he lamented.
The project, he explained was delayed for two years because of financial challenges and the harsh business environment which he said is an indicator that foreign investments have not enjoyed the support of government, most especially in the industry as oil and gas sector.
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