NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed spoke at a one-day Stakeholders Engagement on Gas Utilisation in Nigeria in Kano, yesterday.
Ahmed, who was represented by Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, said: “There is urgent need for large consumers of diesel to embrace use of gas which, has been designated as Nigeria’s transition fuel. The Federal Government has put in place various initiatives and policy framework, including the natural gas expansion programme and the decade gas expansion programme.
“The PIA (Petroleum Industry Act) is poised to enable the growth of the industry. The 12 regulations recently gazetted unlock the golden opportunities and signpost the pathway to energy security.”
He added: “The engagement would create the necessary awareness and make the compelling case for industry operators to foster a compliance culture which alone guarantees safer and sustainable facilities.”
In his remarks, NMDPRA Northwest Regional Coordinator, Shu’aibu Samuel, explained that the event was to encourage industry operators to transit from diesel to gas against the backdrop that the latter is not only cheaper, but is clean to the environment and has less carbon emission.
“One of the biggest challenge of industries is the supply of power, and because of the challenge in the generation of electricity, companies have to rely on the use of generators to power their plants.
“Because of the deregulated environment, the cost of production has increased. So, bringing in gas will help them (industries) stabilise to reduce cost of production to compete favourably with products from other countries.”
