The Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, says the Federal Government has so far invested $450m in Compressed Natural Gas.

Ekpo disclosed this at the ongoing Practical Nigerian Content Forum organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

According to Ekpo, gas will be the mainstay of Nigeria’s energy shift, and the government is giving local businesses a chance to engage in gas distribution, processing, and power generation.

He stated that the probable replacement for petrol has also been determined to be natural gas in the form of CNG, stating that to encourage other solutions and alternatives to the massive payout from the nation, President Bola Tinubu’s inauguration speech prohibited further fuel subsidy payments.

The gas minister stressed that the Presidential CNG Initiative has greatly advanced the nation’s cause of switching from PMS to CNG-powered engines.

He listed the CNG mandate of Tinubu as an incentive for the adoption of CNG for mobility, allowing for deploying and financing CNG vehicles for mass transit, distributing CNG conversion kits at discounts, and providing conversion incentives including training.

He noted that the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative’s role was to facilitate investments in the CNG sector to plug the conversion workshop, infrastructure, and CNG supply gaps.

“The PCNGI is to enable the regulatory process for CNG to ensure zero incidences while allowing rapid adoption. So far, the initiative has achieved the following tremendous metrics worthy of celebration while offering significant public/private partnerships for enterprises that desire to do business in the CNG space.

“Over $450m has been invested in the CNG sector covering infrastructure, conversion centres, and platforms,” he added.

Ekpo said 65 mother stations are in various stages of development while 88 new daughter stations are undergoing development with 26 per cent completion.

He added that over 145 new conversion centres were deployed with an additional 90 in construction phases.

“More than 150,000 kits were acquired nationwide. 34,000 conversions stimulated. 5,808 CNG & EV Platforms were acquired via the Ministry of Finance. Over 1,000 conversion technicians have been trained,” he disclosed.

The minister mentioned that the theme of this year’s conference—‘Defining the Next Frontier for Nigerian Content Implementation’—is a call to action and a reaffirmation of Nigeria’s commitment to leveraging local capabilities to drive energy security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability.

He posited that under Tinubu, the gas ministry is aligning its policies with the aspirations of Nigerians, ensuring that local content remains a priority in all facets of our energy strategy.

To deepen domestic gas utilisation, he remarked that in the last 12 months, two critical gas projects with combined volumes of 600 million standard cubic feet per day were completed—SEPLAT Assa North (300 MMSCF/Day) and SPDC Ohaji South – (300 MMSCF/Day)

He added that final investment decisions that will guarantee an additional 420 MMSCF/day of natural gas to existing production have been taken through SPDC Iseni Project (90 MMSCF/Day) and Total Ubeta Project (330 MMSCF/Day).

It was added that critical pipeline infrastructure like the OB3 Gas Pipeline that runs from the Obiafu-Obrikom plant to Oben has achieved 97 per cent completion and the AKK pipeline that runs through Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano is currently at 77 per cent completion.

“The OB3 Gas Pipeline and the AKK Gas Pipeline both present enormous prospects for local businesses engaged in construction, maintenance, operations, and security services as well as gas-based sectors like gas-to-power, gas-to-fertiliser and other manufacturing businesses along the lengthy corridors.

“By 2030, the country’s current gas production is expected to increase by almost 4 billion cubic feet per day, according to the Decade of Gas plans. At this point, we have accomplished 25 per cent of this goal,” Ekpo said.

He revealed that the ministry is working with the NCDMB to ensure that Nigerian companies are prioritised in the manufacture of components for pipelines, refineries, gas facilities, CNG stations, conversion centres, training facilities and instructors.

Through the Midstream, Downstream, Gas Infrastructure Fund, he stated that the Tinubu administration has empowered six local companies in the gas value chain to the tune of N122bn.

“These amounts serve as the Federal Government’s equity in these businesses. to help derisk the investments and further enhance the speedy completion of the various gas midstream and downstream projects aimed at pushing gas to the end users and thus enhancing the consumption and utilisation of natural gas in the country,” he submitted.