The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board says it has secured approval to work with selected partners to produce Liquified Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) that will meet 10 per cent of the current nationwide demand.

The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, was quoted as saying this while speaking at the 2022 Nigerian International Energy Summit, which ended in Abuja on Thursday.

He said the board recently secured the approval of its Governing Council for a partnership to produce 123,000 metric tonnes per annum LPG, which is about 10 per cent of the current demand nationwide, from the Utorogu gas plant, in Warri, Delta State, to enhance local production of LPG and reduce import requirements.

According to a statement, the board’s latest efforts are geared towards actualising the Federal Government’s Decade of Gas Policy as well as the overarching Nigerian content aspirations which are to deepen in-country capacities in the oil and gas industry, create jobs for the teeming youths and retain spending in the economy.

The statement read in part, “Wabote explained that the Federal Government had introduced clear policies to make the nation become a gas-powered economy, one of which is the Decade of Gas that seeks to leverage on the country’s huge gas reserves to become not just a major exporter but to become a major gas consuming nation.

“He also highlighted other board’s investments and partnerships in the gas sector to include the creation of a 10 hectares gas hub in Polaku, Bayelsa State, for hosting gas-based infrastructure and facilities, LPG jetties/terminals, storage facilities, inland transportation, cylinders manufacturing, bottling, and retail.

”According to him, our partnerships in the gas sector have unlocked 6,000metric tonnes of LPG storage facilities, annual production of 1.2million LPG composite cylinders, and infrastructure and facilities for processing of 840MMscfd of gas across fourteen states of the federation namely Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Zamfara, Niger, Plateau, Gombe, Jigawa states and the Federal Capital, Abuja.”

While commenting on the recently passed Petroleum Industry Act, Wabote encouraged international and local operators in the industry to approve final investment decisions for new projects to justify the energies that went into enacting the business-friendly legislation