It’s cheaper & safer to use GAS for your car

• Oil & Gas Expert, MICHEAL AKANBI

Michael Lamidi Akanbi, is a seasoned professional with versatile experience across Oil, Gas, Engineering, Marketing, Manufacturing, Consulting and Training. He holds a first degree in Engineering from the University of Lagos and an MBA- Marketing research from the prestigious Rome business school Italy and various other Professional Certifications.

He’s the CEO of 365 Energy Tech Solution Ltd, an indigenous Nigerian oilfield service provider.

A few days ago, City People ISAAC ABIMBADE (08155107955), spoke with him on the current challenges of removal of fuel subsidy. He told us a lot about how  Nigerians can switch to gas as an alternative. He speaks about the benefits of using gas to run not only your car engine but other engines like generators, trucks, etc., which is especially relevant if you want to sell my car fort myers

He also spoke about the common Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and many others. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Tell us more about Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and its usage.

First of all, there are different types of gases. But people are used to LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas). This type is the regular cooking gas used in homes. LPG ( home gas) can also be used for cars and generators. It is possible to change the carburettor to enable smaller petrol generators to use LPG.

The second type of gas we have been talking about is Natural Gas but in a compressed form. Nigeria has abundant reserves of gas. We are sitting on gas.

I’m partly Bayelsan. There are times within the riverine communities you just see fish floating on the water, this is sometimes as a result of gas breaking out from under the water. If you go to the Niger Delta there is what we call “associated gas”. This is gas that comes out of the wells with crude oil during the drilling process. So we have that gas in abundance.

We have been flaring gas for decades. For as long as you know, Delta State, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom etc, are common places where you see the orange flames at night time. Those are all gas being flared.

Gas flaring is wasteful and hazardous to the ecosystem, to humans, etc. Generally, it’s not even good for people, animals or birds to breathe in gas.

Compressed Natural Gas is in abundance in our country. How do we responsibly harness and use it for the good of all? At one point, CNG was sold for about 50 naira per SCM, (the equivalent of 1liter).

Let me also say that, your Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is safer than your LPG for powering cars and generators because the valve shuts down if the temperature rises to a dangerous level. The valve that controls the flow of the gas will cut the gas if there is any trigger or accident.

Do you know why the government is yet to embrace this because this should be an alternative to cushion the effect of fuel subsidies?

I think it’s a government with the political will that can drive the process. The government of Nigeria is sacrosanct if gas utilization and monetization will be effective and you need a leader with the right focus to achieve it. Many people have been saying Asiwaju may be the right man to finally take steps to grow the assets needed to make gas expansion work in this country.

Isaac, imagine if this government now decides to build 30 gas compression stations around the country wherever gas pipelines are available then have daughter stations (gas dispensing points) built by private players, do you know how easy and cheap it will become to do business in Nigeria?

1-The Cost of transporting goods will drastically be reduced at least by 40%. 2- The cost of traveling on all fronts will also be reduced.

I think in my opinion, I still think the subsidy removal should be done systematically. Part of what the government should have put in place is the availability of gas. You tell people that they have the option of gas but in other, for you to go into gas, we have certain people who are responsible enough to transit us into the use of gas by making the kits, accessories affordable and available. How? The duty on gas is about 67.5 percent (20 percent duty, 40 percent levy and 7.5 VAT). That’s what the government charges you on those kits. And you also need to pay NAFDAC. And you will also need to pay clearing charges. All these charges on the accessories of CNG coming into the country like valves, cylinders, tubes, kits that should make the conversion of car cheap aren’t in place.

This is an opportunity for a private sector like you to come in and provide this service for lots of Nigerians. What have you been doing?

It’s an opportunity but I don’t think that opportunity is available now. Let me tell you why. We are a small company; we can’t do much. Since 2018 we have actually invested the little resources we have in research and development. We have a certain group of Directors who have been in the Oil and Gas field for quite a while and they understand the value of gas. We have looked into the opportunity of processing gas into synthetic products like crude, diesel and aviation fuel. There is a technology that can convert gas into all these.

Your question is that how will we be able to help the people to benefit from it? For now, all we can do is technology because we are still paying high for CNG imports. The kits are expensive because of the various charges that comes with it. The clearing, shipping, duty, levy, and VAT. By the time you add the cost of this together, it’s already a lot of money. How can a small company help in this? I still believe the government has to drive the process otherwise it will be difficult for people to convert their cars.

What will be your advice for President Tinubu and how can Nigerians benefit from this CNG In a way that will be pocket friendly?

I will advise him that there are other sources of revenue. We don’t manufacture cylinders, or kits, for CNG here in Nigeria. If you want to encourage homegrown manufacturing of goods, then we can put high tax tariffs on imports. But we don’t produce any of these things here. Why don’t we bring the import duty to 20-25 percent on those items (CNG items)?. Let there be an agency that regulates the kits because gas is highly volatile. You need people who can responsibly fit those kits into cars and the government must be involved at that level to ensure the quality of kits that comes to the country are the type that won’t create havoc or hazard.

Secondly, let it also be easy for those who want to go into the CNG business or who are already in the gas business. Let there be a sensitization programme. We are putting something together through the NNPC to sensitize the public on the pros and cons of CNG because there will always be a downside but the advantages are more with CNG. If you install kits wrongly into a car from petrol to gas, there is the possibility that something might go wrong in the process of gas passing through the chamber or injector system. So you want the kind of people who can responsibly handle the conversion of that equipment into cars and trucks. Mind you, you can also convert generators and this will drop down the operational cost of any company.

If the government looks into these areas the cost of goods will drastically drop by 30-40 percent.

Let’s say, for instance, it will take you 1 million naira to take a Truck to Kano and back (diesel). With petrol is about 7 hundred thousand naira. CNG is about 170 to 200 naira per SCM. You can do the maths. The cost of yam, pepper, tomatoes, etc will drop. Because if you are paying 1 million to transport those things from the north, you are going to spend about 3 hundred thousand with CNG.

Let me also tell you that gas actually enhances the life of your engines. Diesel has sludge. It’s dirty because many of the diesel are coming from European countries. The sludges make it difficult for the engine to filter and spray into your injector but gas is gas. Gas is pure.

Nigeria can even earn carbon credit because most of the world’s industries, and refineries are been powered by gas. In fact, there’s funding for a country that is planning or intending to go green. These are the kind of innovative steps other countries and companies are taking. So Nigeria can begin to find itself in that place. So gas is a gift God has given us in Nigeria. Let’s forget about other things.

We are working on many things. Imagine if some of these buses are converted into gas. The cost of traveling will drop. And it will rub off on other things. If we can convert some of these BRT into gas and the boarding cost drops down drastically, more people will be encouraged to use BRT and more people will leave their cars at home. The traffic in Lagos metropolis will reduce. The benefits are just enormous.

What is the process for the conversion of a petrol car to gas, in layman’s terms?

I will just give you a general overview. For a car, you have kits and you must ensure the kits is from the right source. For us, we always have OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) always gives us technical support while our people do the conversion.

Conversion in the sense of the word is just you installing of kits. There is what we call a reducer. The reducer helps you to bring gas from the gas chamber which is the CNG and we get four extra holes where the valves are it may be a four or six-cylinder car. If it’s a six-cylinder, we would have 6 extra holes to inject gas.

For petrol cars to CNG is bi-fuel. Bi-fuel simply means you can switch from gas to petrol or vice versa with a click of a button in front of your dashboard.

Remember, the conversion is only a hard-on. It doesn’t do anything to your engine. It doesn’t alter the engine. It runs as the manufacturer installed it. A lot of people say it’s going to alter your engine. It only enhances it by bringing an extra fueling system on board. So the fueling system goes into the same chamber where petrol goes to but remember Petrol is liquid. This is gas. Your injector tries to convert your petrol into gas so that it can push it into the combustion chamber, but gas is gas, it just goes in effortlessly. And when gas goes into the same chamber, it does the same work the petrol does. The only difference now is, gas is cleaner than petrol. And it’s cheaper.

After installation, we now do the calibration. Calibration is when you program the volume of gas that comes into the chamber when you are using it and the volume of petrol that comes in. It synchronizes it. Once you click the button we install in front of your car, it changes and cuts off from petrol to gas, immediately.

It has a brain box called ECU. The ECU makes all that happen.

People are often scared of putting the cylinder in the back boot of the car, that it could explode at any time or if there’s an accident. What can you say about this?

CNG cylinders and canisters are the safest compared to petroleum and LPG. The petrol tank is not as thick as CNG cylinders. Even your LPG cylinders are not as thick as CNG cylinders. Like I said, if there is an impact from the cylinder, or if there is a touch or a trigger, the valve will shut down immediately. So it’s safe but we don’t advise people to use LPG for their car if the car is not originally designed for that purpose.

A lot of people are doing something now. It’s everywhere on social media where people now connect cooking gas cylinders to their generator carburetors. May God help us because it’s very dangerous. The government should come in quickly to address this issue.

So you are saying the CNG can’t have a negative impact on the engine?

The reverse is the case! You just have to apply common sense. If you have a petrol engine, it pumps petrol into the injector. That injector is fighting to spray that petrol, trying to convert it into gas or gas that will go effortlessly into our chamber. How does gas now affect your engine? It even enhances your engine. Your engine life is optimized when you use gas. In fact, if you do a mix of gas and diesel alone. Your engine sprays that diesel better. That’s why when you check an exhaust pipe of a car that uses gas it’s always clean. People who say that are people highly uninformed. Gas has been in use in India for close to 40 years and about 20-something years in Europe. When considering fuel options for your vehicle, it’s cheaper and safer to use gas. For marine engines, like boats, you can also explore alternative options like electric propulsion systems, you may check out the mercruiser line for efficient and eco-friendly marine solutions.

Where can people convert their cars?

I have a few people who are converting cars. We at 365 Energy are converting cars but we haven’t gone full scale even though we have kits, cylinders and manpower. We just convert for a few people. Because if we go all out, we would have a long line-up of cars. I have received a lot of phone calls in the last few days asking where they can convert their car to gas. The cost of conversion now is a hindrance because of import duty. The conversion shouldn’t be more than 2 hundred thousand naira or less if the government can intervene.

We can start with Uber and transit buses. If Uber costs drop by 60 percent, it will be nice.

For the benefit of those who are reading your story for the first time, can you tell us more about your background?

I’m an ordinary Nigerian. My background is Civil Engineering but I went into Oil and Gas very early because my mom is from Bayelsa. I have uncles, sisters, and brothers who are into oil and gas. I have a sister in Agip who is a Senior Gas Manager. So it’s only natural I pick interest in it. Since 2013 I have been around this corridor and I have been studying effective ways to harness energy out of that I set up this company (365 Energy Tech Solution). What we do is we look for easy and cheaper ways to do the work. If there is an engine, we look for other ways for the engine to perform better in the same way. So those are some of the steps we took at the early stage.