Nigeria’s Prudent Energy expands capacity with a new 6,000MT LPG plant

NIGERIA – Prudent Energy and Services Limited, leading indigenous oil trading firm, has completed the construction of a 6,000-metric tonne liquefied petroleum gas plant in Delta State, Nigeria.

The oil company which has its core area of specialization in the downstream sector of the oil Industry has been making significant investments over the past few years, the new LPG facility being the latest.

The Chief Executive Officer, Prudent Energy, Mr Abdulwasiu Sowami, said that the construction of the LPG plant was in line with the current government policy of making cooking gas the primary source of heat in the country.

Only 25 percent of Nigeria’s 200 million people have access to liquefied petroleum gas.

The government has however been promoting the uptake of cooking gas by discouraging the distribution of kerosene which is currently widely used as the primary source of energy in many households.

One of the ways in which it has used to limit kerosene use is through dissuading the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation from importing dual purpose Kerosene.

As a result, kerosene consumption has greatly reduced for the past four years that the policy has been in place.

Access to cooking gas for many Nigerians has however remained a challenge largely due to inadequate LPG infrastructure.

Prudent Energy is therefore keen to tap into this market that shows immense opportunity for growth.

Its new facility will play a significant role in improving the country’s LPG infrastructure.

Apart from the new facility, Prudent Energy, through its subsidiary, Ignite Investments and Commodities Limited has also recently acquired a controlling stake in Forte Oil Plc.

Forte Oil has about 450 retail outlets, and 40 per cent to 50 per cent of them can take the LPG.

The acquisition of Forte will give prudent energy capacity to provide retail services to cooking gas consumers.

Hitherto the purchase, Prudent Energy was only known for its bulk services which only targeted large scale LPG consumers.

Prudent energy has plans to invest in bitumen and green energy in future even as it seeks to expand its capacity in its current investments in Aviation, LPG and Diesel.