Nigeria LNG road delivery scheme to create "virtual pipeline"

ABUJA, Reuters—Nigeria has launched a scheme to transport LNG to regions not linked by pipeline, supplying power plants and industry with cheaper, cleaner fuel, officials said.

Nigeria, a major oil producer, lacks refining capacity, so most crude is exported and the West African nation imports gasoline and other refined products. A creaking power network also means firms often rely on expensive diesel generators.

The government wants to use more of its gas.

Under the new plan, the state oil firm, the Nigerian unit of France's Total and Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria Ltd. (GACN), would deliver gas to a small LNG plant run by Nigeria's Greenville LNG, officials said.

 

 

Greenville would deliver the gas to industries and companies around the nation using trucks, which would themselves be powered by LNG.

"Greenville will transport products with specialized LNG trucks, which have the capacity to travel about 1,000 km on LNG before refueling," GACN Managing Director Morgan Okwoche said.

LNG is cheaper and lighter to transport than other fuels, so its transport will cause less damage to roads. The trucks could supply areas not linked by pipeline to create what a "virtual pipeline" network.

Nigerian Oil Minister Ibe Kachikwu said investors "…have been looking for how to be able to access and distribute gas in the absence of pipelines."

"This is not to take the need away from the pipelines, we are going to continue to work on providing pipelines," he said.

 

(Reporting by Paul Carsten and Camillus Eboh; editing by Edmund Blair)

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