Autogas to the rescue, By Wole Olaoye

My heart bleeds every time I encounter the long petrol queues that have become a permanent fixture in the urban landscape in Nigeria. Petrol shortages have become so endemic that we are no longer embarrassed by scandalous petrol queues. All over the country, lives have been lost, millions of hours worked and citizens’ health negatively impacted – all because we mismanaged the liquid gold flowing underground.

The story of how our petroleum sector has become the most spectacular crime scene where invisible ships routinely ‘steal’ undetected to load millions of barrels of stolen crude oil will be told one day. So is another story of how all Nigerian refineries conveniently stopped working for over a decade to enable the country to import petroleum products at prices that favor the pockets of powerless motorists.

The situation would not be so bad if the government had fulfilled its promise to provide an alternative to petrol as an automotive fuel. In December 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari promised that the autogas policy in the works would ensure that vehicles on Nigerian roads run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Currently, analysts expect at least two million of the 12 million vehicles on Nigeria’s roads to run on autogas or electric batteries to reduce demand for petrol. A dream is still a dream.

During the virtual launch of the Autogas Initiative on the back of the National Gas Expansion Program, the Decade of Gas policy which is abundant and 203 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas resources, President Buhari has reflected that no less than 40% of the vehicles are running. Nigeria’s roads will run on compressed natural gas. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, also announced that the Federal Government’s plan is to provide car gas that costs between N95 and N97 per litre.

An investigation conducted by The Guardian newspaper revealed that inadequate infrastructure, high gas costs, lack of proper planning, difficult economic realities and security issues continue to hamper the president’s autogas plan.

Initial projections are that motorists will pay about N250,000 to convert their vehicles from petrol to gas. With the way the Naira is yo-yoing these days, the estimate must have doubled, putting the scheme further out of the grasp of motorists looking for an alternative to petrol.

In some other countries, if a big plan with serious implications for the environment is considered, the government considers incentives, including tax exemptions so that the average citizen can take advantage of the new scheme. But in the case of Nigeria, the various units of government seem to be working in silos. There is no central coordinating unit to coordinate activities and ensure that timelines are respected. As a result, investors are disillusioned. The N250 billion set aside by the federal government for willing investors in the autogas assembly plant to ensure that autogas conversion of vehicles is speeded up, has become insignificant with time. The fund is barely able to convert 100,000 vehicles to autogas at current market rates.

Marketers complain that the way things are usually done in Nigeria, the business is too risky to venture into. Unsurprisingly, there are only two CNG compliant stations in the entire Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Why tie up money when the government is dreaming?

In addition to solving problems in the transport sector, the use of autogas is also more environmentally friendly. Gasoline can enter the environment as a liquid and as a vapor, from leaks and handling during production, transportation, and delivery (eg, from storage tanks, from spills, etc.) even if it is not burned. Gasoline contains known carcinogens. One liter of gasoline emits about 2.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, which contributes to human-caused climate change.

Many countries use it to cook food and heat the house. Perhaps most commonly used is motor fuel. LPG costs about half the price of petrol but LPG cars need more fuel to drive the same distance as petrol vehicles. While LPG still releases greenhouse gases that have negative environmental consequences, cars using LPG produce less carbon-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions than petrol and diesel cars. Experts assert that LPG produces 90% less carbon monoxide and 50% less smog than natural gas. It also evaporates on its own, eliminating environmental risks in the event of a spill, as it does not cause black smoke from the exhaust.

Every year, 3.7 million people die due to ambient air pollution. There are 1,600 cities worldwide reporting high levels of air pollution in the global environment with 7,600 Fuel Filling Stations.

Most petrol cars can be equipped with an LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) conversion, turning them into a ‘dual-fuel car’ that can run on LPG as well as petrol.

Imagine using autogas on a large scale on the roads of Lagos! The persistent smoke in the atmosphere will disappear and the commuters will breathe cleaner air. And Lagos will only join other megacities in gas travel. Autogas is widely used in Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, UK, USA.

Interestingly, the Lagos State Government has outlined plans for the conversion of one million vehicles, representing 25% of the four million vehicles in the state, to Autogas within four years. The initiative is in line with the federal government’s National Gas Expansion Plan.

The state government is recommended because Automotive LPG or Autogas is the most accessible alternative fuel. Driving an LPG vehicle is safe, easy and, in many countries, cheaper than driving a petrol or diesel model. The use of gas, LPG or CNG is clean, safe, convenient, available, growing, ready for tomorrow.

Nigeria could spend up to N6.72 trillion next year if it continues opaque petrol subsidies, a 68% increase from this year’s fuel subsidy budget of N4 trillion. But without the subsidy, CNG costs between N100 and N110 per standard cubic meter (equivalent to a liter).

The imperative to encourage the use of gas becomes more glaring when one considers the fact that Nigeria is blessed with gas that we have been flaring for decades instead of processing it for export or local use. Nigeria has gas reserves of about 203 trillion cubic feet. Our planlessness is responsible for the situation where our local people use firewood for cooking (thus contributing to global warming) while gas is burned instead of piped to their homes.

According to Dataphyte, a media research and data analytics organization, an estimated 6.63 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas will be released from various oil fields in Nigeria by 2021. Flared gas has a significant impact on the economy and by extension development. By 2021, an estimated $761.19 million will be lost to gas flaring. A total monetary value of N316.5 billion will be received for the government.

The amount will finance the total expenditure on Primary Health Centers (PHC), rural electrification projects, and maintenance of all road and bridge projects by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA). This has a collective figure of N227.13 billion. In the last decade, an estimated $9.05 billion has been lost due to gas flaring. This money will offset 23.62% of the country’s total foreign debt of $38.32 billion.

Flaring 6.63 bcm of gas by 2021 releases at least 17.7 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is estimated that one cubic meter of gas produces 2.8 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Gas flaring alone has released 210.36 million tons of carbon dioxide in the last decade.

We can take a hint from our brothers in Egypt. The conversion rate of older conventional fuel-based vehicles in the country has increased due to low operational costs. The Egyptian government is spending a lot to provide the necessary infrastructure to promote CNG vehicles in the country under the conversion program initiative.

We can also use the new technology of electric cars.

As the Buhari administration steps down to prepare for a new administration, one of the legacies it can leave behind is the facilitation of the autogas project in such a way that private concerns that have partnered with government agencies are encouraged to launch it. to accelerate the large-scale use of gas in 12 pilot countries and subsequently, throughout the country.

It is depressing to see Nigerian motorists spend valuable hours and days in interminable fuel queues. Imagine if there was a working gas alternative!

Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached at wole.olaoye@gmail.com, Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: wolula2021