FG targets CNG expansion in South-South as 120,000 vehicles use CNG nationwide

The Federal Government has intensified efforts to expand gas utilisation and increase the number of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) in the South‑South region, as close to 120,000 vehicles have been converted to CNG nationwide.

With Nigeria currently producing about 10 billion cubic feet of gas daily and having about 215 trillion cubic feet of gas in reserves, gas utilisation has remained negligible compared to the abundant reserves.

The nation’s push for increased gas utilisation is driven through the Decade of Gas initiative, which aims to transform the country into a gas‑powered economy by 2030, and the Presidential Initiative on CNG (Pi‑CNG), which focuses on making compressed natural gas a cleaner and more cost‑effective transport fuel.

As part of efforts to intensify gas usage, the Decade of Gas and the Presidential Initiative on CNG (Pi‑CNG) and Electric Vehicles (EV) held a one‑day training for journalists in Port Harcourt to raise awareness of Nigeria’s gas development agenda in the region.

Tosin Coker, Pi‑CNG/EV’s Chief Operating Officer, said, among other things, that Nigeria presently has close to 120,000 vehicles converted to CNG nationwide.

He said, “We’re promoting CNG as an alternative fuel: a cleaner, safer, and cheaper source of fuel. We’re blessed with natural gas in Nigeria, and we can use it for the benefit of ourselves and future generations.”

Coker pointed out that the impact of the ongoing international conflict on oil prices and other factors has made the search for alternative fuels necessary.

He said, “The Government is interested in this because we have gas in abundance. It is not subject to geopolitical tensions that affect the price of oil and, in turn, the price of petrol and diesel on our streets, as we have seen recently with the Iran crisis. The price of CNG did not change over the last three to four months, whereas the price of petrol and diesel has fluctuated.

“The government is trying to invest and create a conducive environment for investors. It is putting in policies so that departments, agencies, and ministries focus on their costs and convert their vehicles to CNG or buy new CNG vehicles when they replenish their fleets.

“We want to encourage every Nigerian to explore CNG, consider it, and take advantage of the financing opportunities available. We’ve converted over 100,000, close to 120,000 vehicles nationwide, and we’re soon coming to Port Harcourt to promote it further,” he said.

Opeyemi Balogun, of the Decade of Gas Secretariat, said the session with journalists was “to help advance the media’s knowledge of the oil and gas industry because when the media understands the issues, it improves the type and quality of news they put out to the general public.

He said the session with journalists in Port Harcourt was the third in the series, adding, “We started it in 2025 with the media team in Lagos and also in Abuja. So we thought it wise to come to the Niger Delta, where the natural gas resources come from, because it is important for the region’s media to benefit from the knowledge sharing we are providing.”

Balogun noted that the Federal Government is intentional about enforcing the zero‑flare policy, adding that the government is taking steps to reduce gas flaring in new oil and gas projects to the barest minimum.

He said, “The numbers have improved in terms of the volume of gas that will flare over the course of, say, 10 years.”

“One of the things the government has done, and is doing, is to ensure that we zero in on flaring. One such measure is the Nigerian National Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, which, through the regulator NUPRC, identifies sites that currently flare gas, groups them into a portfolio, and awards them to companies that will implement projects to utilise that gas for the benefit of Nigerians rather than simply burning it as has been done in the past,” he said.

Balogun added, “Currently, in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, you can’t put up a project without having a plan for gas, meaning that if you plan any development now, the regulator, the NUPRC, must see your gas-utilisation plan, thereby ensuring that when the facility or asset comes on stream, flaring is generally eliminated.”