The Nation Newspaper

Tag: cylinders

  • ‘90% of gas cylinders in Nigeria are expired’

    ‘90% of gas cylinders in Nigeria are expired’

    About 90 per cent of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas/cooking gas in Nigeria are obsolete and need to be replaced, the Programme Manager, National Liquefied Petroleum Gas Implementation (Office of the Vice-President, Dayo Adeshina, has said.

    At the just concluded 7th Annual LPG conference and exhibition, held in Lagos,  Adehina, said obsolete  gas cylinders has become a major issue in the LPG sub-sector of the nation’s gas industry, adding all efforts to do something on it has failed.

    According to him, the stakeholders have been campaigning  for the ban on the use of old gas cylinders, with a view to make the  Federal Government revive the moribund gas cylinders in the country.

    He said the use of old cylinders is disturbing, adding that it has a negative consequence on the society, adding that it has put many families in dangers.

    Obsolete cylinders, he said, has raised an alarm over the non-testing and proliferation of expired gas cylinders in circulation across the country, saying cylinders outlive their safety after 15 years.

    He said; “We need to invest in cylinders and proudly one of the investors would have its cylinder operating plant opened in January. We also need to have cylinder re-proliferation plants.”

    He however, also faulted the regulation in the sector, saying “We need to take care of the regulatory and fiscal policy. Enforcement needs to play a big role. There is going to be ashakeup of regulation because the government has seen that if we ever have a repeat of the incident we had in Nnewi, it is dead on arrival.”

  • Imported 10kg gas cylinders harmful, says SON

    Imported 10kg gas cylinders harmful, says SON

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has described as dangerous the imported 10 kilogrammes (kg) gas cylinders. It said the cylinders were carrying values meant for 3kg and 6kg cylinders.

    The agency made this known during the inspection of two 40-foot container loads of substandard gas cylinders worth about N50 million.

    SON Director-General, Osita Aboloma, who was represented by the Director of Compliance, Mr. Bede Obayi, said using a 6kg approval to bring in 10kg cylinders  subverted the regulatory standards and constituted economic sabotage.

    “The importer got approval to bring in 6kg, but went and imported 10kg camping gas, a different size, which is not in line with the standard. It is a typical negligence of the laws of the land,” Aboloma said.

    He urged the public not to patronise the 10kg cylinders because they are dangerous. SON, he said, has alerted its state offices to rid the market of the consignment.

    Aboloma said the only the 3kg and 6kg cylinders were approved for importation as camping gas, explaining that some unscrupulous importers were hiding under that to bring in 10 kg cylinders as camping gas.

    “The importation of 10kg cylinders as camping  gas is automatically out of the specification” Aboloma said.

    SON, he said, would prosecute importers of  the substandard gas cylinders and associated products.

    Importers would be made to follow regulatory guidelines as a way to avert danger, he said.

  • Firm boosts Eko Gas with cylinders

    FIRM Chimons Gas has supplied cylinders to the Eko Gas project, as part of the company’s contribution to boost the consumption of cooking gas in Nigeria, particularly Lagos, the Executive Director, Mr.Baylon Duru has said.

    He spoke during the kick off of the cylinderdistribution in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government by the state government. He said the firm was contributing about 2,700 cylinders to the project, adding that so far, it has injected over 25,000 cylinders into the market.        At the moment, he noted, the government intends to distribute about 20,000 cylinders in all the local governments of the state for residents to enjoy the benefits of this clean energy source.

    “The initial distribution is about 20,000 cylinders. I would want to believe that one cylinder is for one home, so 20,000 cylinders for a pilot project is really commendable.After this there is another set of distribution that will go on.The Lagos state government is giving this out free to these beneficiaries.This is very laudable. I feel that if other states can do this, Nigeria in the next five years should be looking at attaining the one million tonnes that is being targeted.The essence is to increase our per capita consumption and be like other African countries,’’ he said.

    Duru, who is also the Deputy Chairman, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Group, one of the the promoters of the project, praised the state government for keying into such initiative capable of improving the per capita consumption of a product which the country has in abundance.

    He said: “This Eko Gas project has been on for close to two years.You will recall that on June 11, 2013, it was kicked off in Surulere by Governor Babatunde Fashola. After that time the next phase was at Ikorodu, which was equally successful. So the essence of the scheme is to make LPG otherwise called cooking gas, fuel for the state so that we can convert from all other forms of energy for cooking into LPG which is readily available, cheap and clean,’’ he said.

    “LPG is in abundance in Nigeria but, unfortunately, we are not using it as our per capita consumption here is so small compared totherest of sub-Saharan Africa. So we are simply taking this initiative to the grassroots where people will appreciate it.The next thing we are doing is to make sure the source of refill gets closer to the people via the skid plant initiative.

    “We are putting it in all the remote areas so that people can access the product easily and equally buy the quantity their monies can afford. So that is basically what the programme is all about and, now, we are in Isolo for the distribution. In another week, we will be in another local government area and certain number of cylinders will be given out too.We appreciate all those who made this possible, the governor, his deputy,the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources,Taofik Tijani and the Permanent Secretary of the ministry,Mrs. Regina Obasa and the Director-General, LCCI, who supported the LPG group in this venture.

    “We acknowledged the support of the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA),the umbrella body of all LPG groups in the country for the safety training conducted during the cylinder distribution exercise.”

  • SON to review LPG cylinders standard

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has pledged to ensure that Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders meet the required standard.

    Director-General, SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said it has become imperative to address the problem of LPG cylinders.

    According to him, apart from enhancing safety of lives and property in the industry, revalidation of cylinders will also boost the LPG business as well as create more confidence in the minds of users on safety.

    Odumodu said part of the SON’s mandate is to protect lives and property through standards.

    He said the requalification would also eliminate most of the sub-standard cylinders from circulation and also lead to the scrapping of old cylinders.

    He said: “We have be meeting with key sectors of the economy and the operators in the LPG sector especially for industrial safety by ensuring that imported LPG cylinders and those produced in Nigeria meet the requirements of NIS 69: 2006. We seek collaboration of the stakeholders’ to ensure quality gas is also dispensed to the consumers”.

    According to him, a situation whereby cylinders were imported or produced in Nigeria and sold to users without any programme for requalification and none for maintenance is no longer acceptable.

    He said SON would soon flag up a campaign to remove old cylinder from circulation.

    “Cylinders above 15 years, which is the agreed period for their revalidation, would be affected,” he said.

    He said all the stakeholders need to join hands with the SON to safeguard the sector.

    According to him, some of the things SON would be seeking to do, going forward, are to ensure that all importers of LPG cylinders have a defined programme for the maintenance of cylinders, adding that operator would have trained personnel on how to inspect and re-qualify LPG cylinders.

    His words:“Other prequalification condition is that the expiry dates of cylinders shall be engraved or embossed on all cylinders. There is need to start setting the right standards in the sector.

    “A Technical Committee comprising members from all sectors ought to have met to develop a framework for the workability of the scheme.’’

    Odumodu noted that the exercise was a core of the organisation’s campaign of zero tolerance to substandard products in the country.