How will the government achieve Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva’s plan of an alternative auto fuel to premium motor spirit (PMS) or petrol?
According to him, the alternative fuel to PMS is Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which will sell at between N95 to N97 per litre as against the current price of PMS at N145 per litre despite being heavily subsidised by the Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
CNG is made by compressing natural gas, which is mainly composed of methane (CH4), to less than one per cent of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of 20–25 megapascal (MPa) or 2,900–3,600 pounds per square inch (psi).
According to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria is among the top countries in the world with huge natural gas reserves. As at January, last year, Nigeria’s proven natural gas reserves was 200.79 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and 600 Tcf potential reserves.
Also, research has proven that natural gas as fuel is cheaper and cleaner than PMS. It was as a result of the research that led to the issuance of a licence to three companies to operate CNG filling stations at designated areas during the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The companies are Global Steel Holdings with operational areas as Abuja and Lagos; Contec Global Limited for Lagos and NIPCO Plc for Benin-City.
Eventually, it was NIPCO Plc that was able to take off and survive till date. When other companies couldn’t survive, NIPCO secured a universal licence, which empowered it to operate nation-wide.
NIPCO Plc has set up of infrastructure and established seven CNG stations in three states – three in Benin-City, Edo State; one in Okolovu, Warri and Kwale respectively in Delta State; and Ibafo in Ogun State.
According to the Managing Director, NIPCO Plc, Sanjay Teotia, CNG is cheaper than PMS as auto fuel. Buttressing his assertion, he said: “Assuming the engine size of the vehicle is 2.0L, practically while one litre of PMS will cover 8km; one standard cubic meter (SCM) of CNG will cover 12km.
He said one SCM of CNG is equal to 1.23 litres of petrol and while one litre of petrol costs N145, one SCM of CNG costs N95. Therefore, in price equivalence, N20, 000 of petrol is approximately N16, 260 SCM of CNG.
“There is also an efficiency advantage of CNG over PMS, depending on the distance covered per day. In nutshell, if the PMS of N20, 000 last four days, the equivalent quantity of CNG will last for seven days.
“I will also laud the Federal Government and the minister for setting the National Gas Expansion Programme Committee, which will reposition the harnessing of our gas resources for auto use and others.”
He said the types of CNG vehicles include Bi-Fuel Vehicles, which have two separate fueling systems that enable them to run on either natural gas or PMS, Dedicated Vehicles, which are designed to run only on natural gas (CNG) and Dual-Fuel Vehicles, which have fuel systems that run on a blend of natural gas and diesel fuel.
He also noted that CNG converted vehicles use internal combustion engines similar to those that run on PMS or diesel, adding that there are seven basic components to convert a gasoline or diesel engine to one that also runs on compressed natural gas. The components are CNG storage tank, Fill receptacle, Fuel filters, Pressure regulator, CNG fuel feed system, Dash-mounted fuel selector, switch and gauge, and Electronic control module.
“A CNG fuel system introduces high-pressure natural gas from the storage tank to the engine while reducing the pressure of the gas to the operating pressure of the engine’s fuel management system,” he added.
According to him, worldwide, there were 14.8 million natural gas vehicles by 2011, led by Iran with 2.86 million, Pakistan (2.85 million), Argentina (2.07 million), Brazil (1.7 million) and India (1.1 million).[6] with the Asia-Pacific region leading with 5.7 million NGVs, followed by Latin America with almost four million vehicles.
Several manufacturers (Fiat, Opel/General Motors, Peugeot, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda and others) sell bi-fuel cars.
In 2006, Fiat introduced the Siena Tetrafuel in the Brazilian market, equipped with a 1.4L Fire engine that runs on E100, E25 (Standard Brazilian Gasoline), Ethanol and CNG.