Marketers of petroleum products in the downstream oil
sector have lamented their inability to access the N250bn
intervention facility of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the
National Gas Expansion Programme, more than one year
after its introduction.
Dealers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly called
cooking gas, and Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) said
barriers to accessing the fund were complex, and urged
the government to re-engineer the scheme to effectively
deepen gas usage in Nigeria.
In September 2020, the CBN introduced the N250bn
facility for the NGEP as part of measures to improve
access to finance for private sector investments in the
domestic gas value chain.
It said the scheme would stimulate investments in the
development of infrastructure to optimise domestic gas
resources for the economy, putting the country’s proven
gas reserves at 188 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The apex bank said the low level of investment in the
industry had resulted in the minimal production and
utilisation of Compressed Natural Gas and LPG as clean
alternative sources of domestic energy in Nigeria.
But for more than one year after introducing the N250bn
intervention, operators in the downstream sector said they
had yet to start accessing the fund despite making
effort’s.
Members of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied
Petroleum Gas Marketers, the Independent Petroleum
Marketers Association of Nigeria, and the Petroleum
Products Retail Outlets owners Association of Nigeria said
they had not been able to access the fund.
IPMAN and PETROAN members own the bulk of the filling
stations in the country, and many of them are involved in
the sale of LPG, while NALPGAM members are basically
cooking gas dealers.
The President, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, said despite
concerted efforts by members of his association to
access the fund, it had remained difficult to get the
money.
When asked by our correspondent on Friday whether
PETROAN had started accessing the N250bn facility for
gas expansion, he replied, “No, not at all. That is a promise
that has not been delivered because the process of
delivering it is just very complex.
“That is a project that is difficult to access because the
CBN is not helping matters. Also, the process is not giving
the kind of guarantee to access the money. So, they need
to meet with stakeholders to re-engineer the process.”
Gillis-Harry had said in July that marketers were in the
process of converting over 7,000 retail outlets across the
country to autogas stations as part of measures to deepen
the use of gas in automobiles.
He told our correspondent at the time that the marketers
were getting set to deploy the N250bn fund to actualise
the conversion process and purchase products.
But on Friday, he said the requirements of CBN had
constituted stiff barriers to accessing the fund.
When asked to explain some of the barriers to accessing
the fund, Gillis-Harry said, “The stumbling block is the
required guarantee for the release of the fund.”
Confirming the position of PETROAN, the National Public
Relations Officer, IPMAN, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, said the
requirements by the apex bank for accessing the fund
were cumbersome.
“The N250bn is for the gas expansion programme but we
have not started accessing the fund. There are so many
procedures to access it and it is quite tedious.”
Ukadike, however, said the gas programme would require
time to become fully effective, adding that marketers, in
partnership with the government, would have to deploy
enough conversion centres for vehicles that would prefer
running on gas.
