Nov 7 (Lagos) - There was drama in Nigerian political space today after reports from Malaysia emerged showing that the Asian Country has made a decision to stop selling LNG vehicles from mid-2025 and totally phase out the vehicles due to the instable nature of the fuel which often leads to explosions of vehicles especially during accidents.
Nigeria as we know has recently decided to push the adoption of CNG in Vehicles to cushion to effects of petroleum subsidy removal by the BAT administration as the price of Petrol has quadrupled since they made their policy decisions in May 2023.
A spokesperson of the Government came out to say that CNG is safe while LNG is not safe so we have nothing to worry about. So let us delve in to the difference between LNG and CNG.
The fact is that CNG and LNG are both derived from the same substance however CNG is derived from Methane while LNG is derived from Propane. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is the gaseous form which when cooled in to extreme temperatures gets converted into liquid form which is called Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).
The advantage of LNG is that one unit of LNG is equal to 3 units of CNG.
While CNG has been adopted in a big way by nations that lack petroleum reserves such as India and China, it is yet to be adopted by any crude oil based economy. In that way, Nigeria will be breaking new ground however the dangers that come with driving around with a gas tank inside your car cannot be underestimated. One has to be careful regarding the vehicle usage and be mindful about where to go and where to avoid.