Sahara Energy Plans $1bn Investment in LPG Production in Five Years

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Sahara Energy has said it plans to boost investment in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas to the tune of $1 billion in the next five years.

Speaking during a session with energy correspondents in Abuja, the Executive Director in charge of Governance and Sustainability, Ejiro Gray, said the oil giant was increasing its vessels to boost the supply of gas in Nigeria and across Africa.

Based on her  presentation during the event tagged: “Energy Transition: The Road Not Taken,” Gray said the plan will help the group boost its footprint in the gas sector as the world moves towards cleaner fuels.

To bring the plan to reality, the Sahara top official stated that the company was raising regional supply in Nigeria and across West Africa, with a plan to build up to 75,000 metric tons capacity for LPG.

On Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), she explained that not many organisations were going into it, because the infrastructure network here in Nigeria for CNG is still poor.

“For LPG in particular, we are doing a lot of that. We have a five-year plan to invest at least $1 billion in LPG and how are we going to do that, it is by building the logistics infrastructure.

 “So you are talking about, for instance, vessels. We are greatly increasing our fleet. Currently, we have four LPG vessels; we have two in the making at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea for LNG vessels as well.

“And the reason is because we need to be able to boost regional supply in Nigeria and across West Africa. The plan is within the next few years, we want to build up to this 75,000 metric tonnes capacity for LPG,” she said.

According to her, challenges such as transportation, infrastructure network pose a major challenge to LPG penetration in Nigeria.

On the ongoing energy transition, she reiterated that Africa could require  up to $2.64 trillion dollars, roughly the size of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to be able to use renewable energy sources for electricity generation by 2050.

“Despite the promise of an African renewables market, risks on three levels continue to prevent many investors from committing their capital,” she said,  listing the levels as macro, industry and transaction.