- Butane Energy Limited and NCDMB have set timelines for the completion and inauguration of additional LPG plant sites.
- According to Inuwa, the five plants have a total storage capacity of 1000 tons, while the company has a combined transport capacity of about 180 to 200 tons.
Butane Energy Limited and its joint venture partners, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), have set timelines for the completion and inauguration of additional LPG plants in four northern states. This is in the push to promote the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as a cleaner and more cost-efficient cooking source in Nigeria.
With the 100-ton LPG plant in Katsina already working, the company said the Kaduna plant would be inaugurated by the end of this month or the beginning of August, and the Bauchi plant for unveiling between September and October this year while that Kano would be operational by the first quarter of 2025.
The Executive Chairman of Butane Energy Limited, Mr Isa Inuwa, said the plan to construct another LPG plant in Abuja is on course as the company has already imported all the equipment needed for the construction and is currently working to acquire land.
According to Inuwa, the five plants have a total storage capacity of 1000 tons, while the company has a combined transport capacity of about 180 to 200 tons, which can be moved using trucks at any time.
He explained: “We are commissioning the Kaduna facility at the end of this month or the beginning of August.
The executive chairman stated, “For Bauchi, we hope to do the commissioning in September or the beginning of October, which we are currently constructing. For Kano, we will start construction around October and by the first quarter of 2025, we will commission it by God’s grace. For all our projects, we have all the equipment on the ground. We have imported everything. For Abuja, we have all the equipment on the ground, but we don’t have a plot of land yet.”
He said that while waiting to begin construction of the Abuja plant, the company is working towards securing an existing plant on lease around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to start trading cooking gas. The executive chairman said that by the first quarter of 2025, Butane Energy would have at least four plants and one on lease running to help make LPG available to users.
He added: “Our initial expectation was that those five plants would be working by now. But in Nigeria, implementing a plan is a problem because of impediments from the government.”
He also informed that the company has its own cylinders customized with its name, Butane Energy, saying, “When you come to our plant, we can sell cylinders to you, or pipes to you, or regulators to you, or furnaces to you, or gas to you.”
To ensure regular product availability, he said the company had registered as an off-taker in about nine suppliers, including KSML, NaphGas, Nipco, PNG, NesoGas, NNPC Retail, NNPC Trading Limited, AA Rano, and Shafa.
Butane Energy was established in 2017 as an LPG storage, trading, and marketing company with distribution assets in the northern part of Nigeria. The NCDMB invested in the company with equity, in line with the agency’s drive to catalyse local firms that are invested in adding value to the country’s oil and gas industry and linkage sectors.