The federal government’s drive to stimulate job creation has started yielding dividends as the Techno Lagos Oil Limited is set to inaugurate an automated Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal that would generate 2000 jobs at Kirikiri in Apapa, Lagos.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva, is expected to unveil the facility on November 18.
The building of the terminal, which holds 8,400 metric tonnes of cooking gas, commenced in 2016.
The facility becomes the fifth of such a terminal to be built in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub and home to leading private oil and gas companies in the country.
The Techno Oil’s terminal was described as a major contribution to Nigeria’s quest to unlock its187 trillion cubic feet gas reserve, which has remained largely untapped.
It was built by CAKASA Nigeria Ltd. in collaboration with a foreign technical partner that signed a deal for the building of the terminal on November, 2016.
The project was financed by a consortium of banks. However, the management of Techno Oil did not put a cost to the project.
The Managing Director of Techno Gas and Power, Mr. Collins Onyeama, told reporters in Lagos yesterday that the facility would boost the realisation of the LPG Expansion Project of the federal government.
“The terminal will generate revenue for all tiers of government through taxes and levies and more importantly generate over 2,000 direct and indirect jobs for the teeming Nigerian populace,” he said.
Onyeama disclosed that a vessel, MT Pertusola, had since discharged products emanating from the OSO-Butane Bonny Terminal in Rivers at the terminal.
According to him, the facility is a big boost to the quest by government to deploy LPG infrastructure, which he said, is currently inadequate in Nigeria.
The managing director said that the investment would also contribute significantly to the reduction of gas flaring in the country.
He reiterated that Techno Oil embarked on the project to boost the consumption of LPG that currently stands at about 400,000 metric tons yearly in Nigeria.
The Techno Gas described the deployment of the facility as another milestone for his company after the inauguration of its landmark LPG manufacturing plant by the company by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo in June last year.
The managing director expressed his optimism that availability of cooking gas would discourage Nigerians from using firewood, kerosene and other fossils materials for cooking.
He said that Nigeria had a population of over 170 million people but that the country had less than one million households using cooking gas.
According to him, Nigeria still ranks lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa in per capita usage of LPG, consuming 1.1kg, compared to Ghana that is currently consuming 3.0kg.
Techno Oil opened shop 21 years ago, operating as a downstream company, marketing Esso blended lubricants before venturing into other areas of oil and gas.
– Thisday