Oil & Gas
By Benprince Ezeh
JOSEPH Ezigbo, managing director, Falcon Corporation Limited, has expressed optimism about the state of oil and gas industry in Nigeria, stating that the future is bright.
His optimism is coming at a time that the federal government has declared the Decade for Gas development in Nigeria from January 1, 2021, t0 December 1, 2031.
Ezigbo, whose company is one of the first indigenous thriving gas companies in the country, told Realnews in an exclusive interview in March that at the moment, “Nigerians are beginning to learn a few things and are also coming into the industry.”
Said he: “As the Western world has withdrawn in some areas, Nigerians have come in. We do have some dedicated Nigerians. Look at Seplat, what they are doing, look at Oando, look at the gas distributing companies within the system, and look at Falcon. They are growing at the moment.
According to him, Falcom Corporation is expanding its gas distribution possibilities. “We are building a 15,000 tonnes tank farm in Port Harcourt. We try to ensure we have lots of cooking gas coming to the East because it’s terrible really when you remember that LPG is produced in Port Harcourt, that’s NLNG but all the receiving tanks are in Lagos.
“So you produce it in Port Harcourt. You truck it to Lagos. Hear the crazy part of it, the vessel available for transportation of LPG is a 30,000 tonnes vessel. All the tanks in Lagos are 17,000. So you bring 30,000 tonnes to Lagos, drop 17,000, leaving 13,000. So it has to wait until the tanks come down and you refill,” he said.
According to him, this makes getting gas expensive in the country. “The transportation from Port Harcourt to Lagos, the demurrage of the vessels staying there, then you put it in tanks and then get smaller vehicles (tankers) and fill them up, then drive them from Lagos and come back to Port Harcourt and sell them to people.
“You must add the cost of transport from Port Harcourt to Lagos, add the cost of demurrage, add the cost of storage, then add the cost of tankers that will now drive it back to Port Harcourt to go and sell. So the price is almost times two of what it sells in Lagos,” Ezigbo said.
– Apr. 01, 2021 @ 17:42 GMT
Tags: Future is bright for oil and gas sector in Nigeria – Prof. Ezigbo
