Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum has shut down four natural gas processing plants in Rivers State in the south of the country. The institution criticizes the operators of these factories for carrying out their activities with expired licenses, as well as for setting up sites that do not meet the standards.
These are the factories of Forte Oil, Sun Gas Company, Timi Gas and Kayzavia.
According to Bassey Nkanga, the controller of operations, the operation aims to ensure the safety of the industrial zone where the factories are housed, as well as the safety of the people.
“The owners do not have a valid permit and the premises are also used as scrap yards, which can cause fires. In the case of Kayzavia this is not even the case of an expired license, the operator has never had a license. He has always worked illegally ” , explained Nkanga to Sun .
The official added that the relevant departments of the ministry will continue to maintain the monitoring in the gas value chain and ensure that the best practices are respected. However, the production of these sites may, in the short term, have consequences on demand.
Source: ECOFIN
