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A daily supply of up to 1.25 billion standard cubic feet (scf) of Natural as well as Liquefied Natural Gas (LPG) is being targeted, as Lagos State is set to commence the implementation of its power/energy sector reform from June.
The reform is guaranteed under the Lagos State Electric Power Reform Law which was passed by the state House of Assembly and assented to by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on February 8, 2018, through which the government is also discussing a partnership with private sector players to generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity.
Under the reform, the state government plans to open the Lagos gas market to local and international players.
Lagos, which consumes approximately 60 percent of the country’s total energy output, presently receives about 500 million scf gas from the Niger Delta, but the reform seeks to an approximately 1.25 billion scf daily supply to be sourced mostly within the state.
And as a strategy to making this real, the state government under the reform will be looking to sign long term off-take contracts for gas found in any oil field in Lagos.
Already operational in Badagry, Lagos, is the Aje Oil Field operated by Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company while the Dangote Oil Refinery within the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) is proposed to commence operation in 2021.
Olawale Oluwo, the Lagos State commissioner for energy and mineral resources, says the reform when fully achieved will help to power the state’s economy from within.
“For a state like Lagos, the fifth largest economy in Africa, we cannot continue to rely on sources of gas that we do not have any form of influence. Part of the objectives of the gas sector reform is to guarantee steady supply to power the state’s economy,” said Oluwo on Wednesday.
According to him, the government is considering a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) for supply of up to 750 million scf of gas per day, and connection of the re-gasified natural gas from the FSRU to the Escravos Lagos Pipeline Service (ELPS).
Oluwo said that the state government would also be increasing the supply of LPG from both local and international players, with the state ministry of physical planning already working on 200 designated locations across state where potential gas operators will set up storage and dispensing stations.
“There are plans to design small sized cylinders for distribution in the retail market and ensure that the cylinders to be deployed are manufactured in Lagos,” said Oluwo.
JOSHUA BASSEY
