MT Sahara Gas, the newly built vessel acquired by the West Africa Gas Limited, has delivered 7,000 mt of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in its first voyage to Nigeria, a move that is seen to bolster safe availability of cooking gas in the country
WAGL is a joint venture of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Sahara Group, a global energy conglomerate.
Dr Maikanti Baru, group managing director of NNPC, said that in keeping with the Federal government’s economic growth plan, WAGL aims to stabilise the market and ensure sustainability of the commodity through strategic deliveries within the sub-region.
“The quest is to achieve uninterrupted supply of the commodity and address infrastructural limitations as we continue to implement our zero-tolerance policy against adulterated products and their promoters across the nation,” Baru added.
Speaking aboard the vessel, Umar Isa Ajiya, managing director at Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), said that it was a significant and important milestone for Africa and the entire shipping and maritime industry.
“This is the first time we are having a wholly owned shipping vessel bringing product to our shores. This is an opportunity to grow and deepen the LPG market in Nigeria such that the use of firewood will come to an end sooner than later,” he said.
Commending the NNPC and Sahara Group partnership, Roland Omoregbe, managing director of WAGL, noted, “This is the first time the private sector in Nigeria is involved with the NNPC in ensuring that there is enough supply of LPG to the country. We are happy that it has done several voyages into West Africa, including Lome, Ivory Coast and Ghana and we are counting more. The sister vessel, Africa Gas is in the West Africa waters as we speak. We have strategic plans to flood Nigeria with LPG and other cleaner sources of energy to do their domestic chores which will, in turn, save our country and our planet.”
In January 2017, WAGL acquired two new vessels, MT Africa Gas and MT Sahara Gas, in its bid to reduce transportation bottlenecks, add value to the Nigeria economy through exporting the commodity, deepen the LPG market in West Africa as well as enhance access to clean and safe energy.