HBM Nigeria Plc, formerly Lafarge Africa Plc, on Monday inaugurated a compressed natural gas (CNG) mother station at its Mfamosing cement plant.

The facility, located in the Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River, has the capacity to serve between 130 and 150 trucks daily.

The group managing director and chief executive officer, Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, described the facility as a strategic investment.

He said it would support the company’s future growth, operational efficiency and sustainability.

According to him, the CNG investment was driven by the need to reduce energy and logistics costs.

He identified energy and logistics as significant cost drivers across the company’s value chain.

Mr Alade-Akinyemi said the facility would also promote energy sustainability and cleaner energy use across HBM Nigeria’s operations.

“As you know, we have a new name, HBM Nigeria Plc, new ownership and renewed ambition for our business to grow exponentially.

“This is a demonstration of that journey. Our transformation has started. This is just the beginning.

“Today’s commissioning is a visible demonstration of the direction we are moving,” he said.

The HBM chief executive said the company was also expanding production capacity across its Nigerian operations.

He said the Mfamosing plant currently produces five million metric tonnes annually.

He added that an additional three-million-metric-tonne production line would soon be commissioned at the plant.

“Here at the Mfamosing plant, we are presently producing five million metric tonnes and will soon be adding a three-million-metric-tonne line.

“That will make it eight million. In addition, we will soon commission lines at Ashaka and Sagamu. 

“This will make our total installed capacity in Nigeria about 17 million metric tonnes by December,” he stated.

Mr Alade-Akinyemi said the expansion would create more opportunities for Nigeria, Cross River and communities hosting HBM operations.

He said the opportunities would include empowerment programmes, skills acquisition and initiatives aimed at improving host communities’ livelihoods.

According to him, the CNG facility forms part of HBM’s broader strategy to improve operational efficiency.

He said the strategy also responds to the need for cleaner and more sustainable energy sources.

The CEO said the company would continue exploring investments to strengthen operations, reduce costs and support Nigeria’s industrial development.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Usiakpor, managing director and chief executive officer of Joza Global Logistics, said the station would reduce transportation costs.

He said the facility could cut transportation costs by more than 50 per cent and significantly reduce turnaround time for transporters.

Mr Usiakpor described the project as a major commitment by HBM Nigeria towards improving the operating environment for transport partners.

According to him, the facility was primarily designed to serve transporters rather than HBM Nigeria.

“This project is actually a transporter project. It is because of the way HBM does its business that they have facilitated this.

“This station is actually going to serve the transporter, not HBM. This is a further commitment to how HBM works with its partners.

“It ensures they have a good working environment and a smooth operating environment,” he said.

Mr Usiakpor said transporters previously spent between 10 and 15 days waiting for CNG supplies.

He said the available gas was usually transported from Port Harcourt, the nearest location with a mother station.

He said the situation increased CNG costs because gas and equipment had to be transported over long distances.

“Because of that, the cost is very expensive because of transporting the skid from Port Harcourt, which is the closest mother station, down here.

“But with this now, they are getting directly from the pipeline. That is going to drop the cost of CNG by over 50 per cent,” he said.

The logistics operator also said the new facility would drastically reduce the time needed to refuel CNG-powered trucks.

He explained that many existing CNG facilities were daughter stations, where gas was transported in skids mounted on tankers.

“Most of what you have out there are daughter stations operated by skids. They bring the skid in tankers and drop it.

“But with this one, you can see from the one they tested now that the truck was fully refilled in 15 minutes.

“What you are seeing as 15 minutes, the normal process takes over an hour. So, you can see the effect on turnaround time,” he said. 

(NAN)