Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Oil and gas sector stakeholders are set to converge on Abuja, the Nigerian capital, with a mission to brainstorm on the safety of gas deployment in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the industry.

As Nigeria rapidly transitions to a gas-powered economy through Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Petroleum Gas (CNG), and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) adoption, the organisers of the the event, Fleissen & Company, led by its Managing Partner, Dr Sunday Kashio, noted that this growth has brought with it increasing safety risks, regulatory demands, and infrastructure challenges.

The Gas Safety Conference (GSC) 2025, which is set to take place between July 8 and 9, he said , is Nigeria’s first dedicated platform for gas safety dialogue and action, stressing that it will bring together government and industry players to coordinate national safety priorities.

Kashio, who spoke during a press briefing in Abuja, stated that Nigeria is increasingly becoming a hub for gas deployment, noting that the industry needs to agree on certain safety standards, especially in a country like Nigeria where products are transported by road.

He stated that the Gas Safety Conference 2025 aims to advance a culture of safety by raising awareness, strengthening regulatory compliance, and fostering collaboration across the gas industry.

Besides, he explained that it will raise nationwide awareness of safety protocols among industry operators, policymakers, transporters, retailers, and end-users to ensure responsible gas handling and usage at every level of the value chain.

In addition, Kashio stated that the conference will support the effective implementation of gas safety regulations by empowering stakeholders with up-to-date guidelines, tools, and training needed to achieve full compliance and operational integrity.

“It will facilitate the exchange of best practices, case studies, and innovations while encouraging coordinated action among institutions on safety strategy, risk mitigation, and emergency preparedness,” he added.

Highlighting the peculiar case of Nigeria which transports its gas by road, the company’s top executive stated that with increasing gas utilisation, safe handling of gas become a very important conversation in the country.

“Whether you are producing gas, transporting gas, or you are a user of gas, whether it is in your house, business, or in your oil plant, the safety of gas usage has become extremely important.

“This is not just in the transportation or in the production of the gas, but across the value chain, which is why we think this conference is very important for the country. What we have seen is that there are various policies.

“You have various companies that are transporting gas across the country. You have various things like converting vehicles that are running on petrol now to running on gas. So much is happening in this space, but what we don’t hear about is safety.

“Is the country ready to ensure that we don’t have safety incidents? This is what you see in traffic. So just imagine if there’s any incidents. So it’s developing infrastructure, developing standards, developing guidelines, and not just developing these guidelines and standards, but monitoring becomes extremely important, training becomes extremely important,” he added.

Supported by the the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA, Kashio noted that members of the armed forces like the police, as well as paramilitary organisations like the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the fire service will attend.

“For every country that has taken up gas, from India to Iran to countries like Argentina, safety is the number one thing they take very seriously. Some countries that have challenges, like India, have huge challenges with taking up gas and many accidents are happening. These accidents usually involve a lot of lives.

“We don’t want that to happen in Nigeria. And we are leading this, trying to organise a conference. We also have something called the National Gas Safety Declaration. So this National Gas Safety Declaration is a policy document that every year of this conference, we are going to be bringing out this document for people to sign.

“The essence of this document is to follow up with organisations that have signed to this, to ensure that they are doing whatever it takes within their remit to ensure that people are safe,” Kashio added.

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