Oil & Energy
Menace Of Fuel Tankers In PH
There was a melo
drama last week Thursday at the base of the Mile I flyover near the UTC junction. A young taxi driver was involved in a head on collision with a police hilux van.
Instead of ordinarily coming out of his taxi to sort out the issue with the occupants of the police van, he rather abandoned his cab in the middle of the road and took to his heels. One of the officers corked his rifle ready to run after the taxi driver, but was called back by one of his colleagues.
In less than three minutes, the road was totally sealed up because the abandoned rackety cab and the police van had blocked the remaining narrow pathway left for every other vehicles descending from the flyover and those coming from UTC Junction. Fuel tankers have taken over 95 per cent of both sides of the road.
Atop the flyover had been taken over by parked tankers. Not only this axis of the road, Njemanze, under the flyover, Ikwerre Road, stretching from Education bus stop to Abonnema Wharf, Azikiwe Road and indeed every available space had been besieged by chains of tankers as their drivers despraretly moved to load products from the tank farms at Eagle Island, Port Harcourt.
For over one year running, this had become the state of traffic in this axis of Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State.
The issue is not merely about distributing the highly needed petroleum product by both major and independent marketers, but rather the frustration being created for other road users and the environment.
The gridlock that was the public outcry at Apapa in far away Lagos State had been resolved but it appears to have become the nightmare to residents and motorists of Port Harcourt city.
Several calls on the authorities of the Rivers State Government to find lasting solution to the problem have remained unheeded.
Recently, the former Commissioner for Energy in Rivers, State, Hon Okey Amadi, was contacted by our correspondent to comment on the issue, but he rather passed the buck to his transport and urban development counterparts. Attempts to also hear from the two commissioners could not provide the needed help.
Similarly, attempt to get the chairman, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG Tanker Drivers Chapter of Rivers State, Comrade John Amajionu, also could not help as he refered the correspondent to the National President of NUPENG, Comrade Achese Igwe. Several calls and text messages placed on Igwe’s phone could not be replied leaving the helpless masses of Port Harcourt who use the roads affected to stew in their own juice.
Apart from the blockage, the activities of the tanker drivers constitute health hazards.
The tanker drivers have formed the habit of operating a black market in these areas where they are found. They sell products on the road. The effect of the products on the road in itself pose challenges as corrotions wear off parts of the roads because of the chemical nature of the products discharged on the surface of the public road.
The negative effects of the parked tankers on the aged flyover also posses extra challenge on the bridge.
Experts said parking several tankers for several hours on the flyover is dangerous as such weight was not factored when the engineers were constructing the flyover.
An engineer, Chiekezie Orlunde, who spoke on the issue said, “the flyover has been constructed for many decades and it gets weaker with passing years. So many activities take place around all corners of the flyover so parking such number of tankers on it is dangerous.
Orlunde advised authorities of the federal ministries in charge to initiate some maintenance on the bridge to avoid some unexpected occurrances occasioned by reckless usage.
“As the parts of the structure continue to wear away without fortifications or maintenance, it could collapse with time and you can imagine the danger this could pose to lives and property. The best step is to avoid such catastrophy,” he advised.
Some security experts have also viewed a situation where the convergence of many trucks for days on public roads is capable of promoting criminal activities as robbery and rape amongst others. There is also the likelihood of fire outbreak in view of the highly inflammable products the trucks carry.
Other road users whose movements are being obstructed by the activities of the tanker drivers also count their losses.
Josef Ndu, a bus driver who plies Mile III – Lagos route said, you spend hours to get to Lagos Bus stop from Mille III, a distance that should ordinarily not take you more than 30 minutes.
Ndu said, the blockage results in accidents and bad business to commercial drivers who are out to render financial account on daily basis and also make profit to take care of their families.
The coordinator of Green Safe Earth, a non-governmental organization, Kingsley Nwafor, while reacting to the development appealed to the Rivers State Government to find lasting solution to the problem.
“Let the government collaborate with owners of the tank farms in Eagle Island to provide alternative parking space for the trucks,” he said.
Nwafor said, it is true the tanker drivers play vital roles in the distribution chain of petroleum products in the country, but they should operate according to laws governing the society as well as avoid activities capable of endangering other persons in the society.
Government can do well by providing spaces even outside the vicinity from where the tanker drivers can be coming to load products instead of besieging the centre of the city.
He further urged the NUPENG authorities to compel the tanker drivers to be of responsible manner, “because the way and manner they use the road is bad. Atimes, they drive across opposite lanes not minding the destruction done to the demarcation at the middle of the road.
Another resident who spoke on the issue, Peter Udoh, wondered why government remained insensitive to the cries of the people.
“May be, the tank farms are owned by the government people such that they don’t mind what risk the tanker drivers pose to the lives of other persons”. Udoh particularly called on the new governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to come to the rescue of the innocent masses who suffer from the recklessness of the tanker drivers.
He urged non-governmental organizations to lend their voices to the call for order since the authorities concerned appear to be indifferent to the plight of the masses who suffer as a result of the excesses of the tanker drivers.
“You remember the case in Lagos. Inspite of several calls, the big men who were benefitting from the Apapa tank farm refused to do the right thing until, the media, NGOs and even international organizations mounted strong campaign against it. Today, the gridlocks on Apapa road have eased off and ordinary people there are free from the hazard,” he stated.
Chris Oluoh
Queue at a filling station occasioned by fuel scarcity
Researchers in Hong Kong and China have developed a new form of battery that is more eco-friendly and longer lasting than lithium ion batteries – and it runs on tofu brine. The new water battery is still in research phases, but if the technology proves to be scalable enough to hit commercial markets, it could be a game-changer for the energy and tech sectors.
“Compared with current aqueous battery systems … our system delivers exceptional long-term cycling stability and environmental friendliness under neutral conditions,” the research team, composed of scientists from the City University of Hong Kong and Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, Guangdong, said in a paper published this month in Nature Communications.
The researchers found that their battery model can be recharged over 120,000 times. “At over a hundred thousand cycles, this could mean a single water-based battery could last at least a decade or so,” states a recent report on the breakthrough from Interesting Engineering. “For applications like grid storage (solar farms, wind balancing), that’s extremely valuable,” the article went on to say.
This kind of lifespan would represent a drastic improvement over the battery technologies that dominate today’s market. Lithium-ion batteries degrade after between 1,000 and 3,000 charge cycles. This could prove revolutionary, as finding an alternative to lithium-ion batteries to power rechargeable devices is a major priority for Big Tech and the global energy sector.
Moreover, these tofu-brine batteries could prove safer and more environmentally friendly than lithium-ion batteries. According to the study authors, the full cells are environmentally benign and nontoxic and can be directly discarded to environments according to various standards.” Water based (also called aqueous) batteries can also potentially be cheap to produce as they rely on ingredients that are less rare in addition to being less hazardous.
Lithium is environmentally harmful to extract, prone to fires, and its supply chains are geopolitically fraught. Currently, China alone controls half of the global lithium market, and is rapidly increasing its stake. In 2024, more than eight in ten battery cells on the planet were made in China. This means that finding a battery model that can compete with lithium-ion batteries in applications like grid-scale energy storage and electric vehicles would have revolutionary implications for global markets.
Researchers around the world have been racing to develop battery models that could diversify the market and make it more competitive and resilient. These models range widely in size, components, and application, with models currently under development for next-gen sodium-ion batteries, quantum batteries, nuclear batteries, and even sand and dirt batteries.
Of course, the irony is that the leading alternatives to lithium-ion batteries are also being developed in Chinese labs. If this new tofu-brine battery proves scalable and applicable outside of a laboratory environment, it could just be another step toward Beijing’s goal of near-total domination of clean energy technology value chains and status as the world’s first and premiere ‘electro-state.’
China’s extreme advantage in global battery making gives it a major point of leverage in global economies as the world continues to electrify at a rapid pace. It is estimated that European demand for lithium in batteries will reach kilo tonnes (thousands of tonnes) of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent by next year, and North American demand will reach 250 kit LCE. it’s all but certain that the vast majority of that demand will be supplied by China.
Other nations are aware of the risk of this dependency, and are taking pains to protect and promote domestic battery manufacturing, but these efforts may be too little, too late. “For globally competitive battery manufacturing industries to emerge outside of Asia over the next ten years, companies will need to do far more than ensure regulatory compliance,” summarizes a McKinsey & Company report released in January. “Challenges will need to be overcome on multiple fronts spanning supply chains, talent management, operations and technology.”
By: Haley Zaremba
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) says it will spend N100 billion in 2026 to deploy hybrid mini-grids for government agencies within and outside Abuja.
The Managing Directors, REA, Abba Aliyu, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on the sidelines of the 2026 budget defence session
The approved funds form part of the National Public Sector Solarisation programme, a component of the agency’s broader N170 billion budget proposal for 2026.
The initiative is designed to improve electricity reliability for public institutions while reducing operational costs and easing pressure on the national grid.
Aliyu explained that the agency’s total proposed budget for 2026 stands at N170 billion, with N100 billion of the amount dedicated specifically to the solarisation initiative targeting government agencies.
He said the hybrid mini-grid systems combine solar power with complementary energy sources to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply.
“The total budget size for 2026 operations is N170 billion, out of which N100 billion had been approved for National Public Sector Solarisation.
Aliyu cited the National Hospital in Abuja as an example where similar infrastructure had been deployed to ensure stable power and cut operational expenses.He added that beyond the Solarisation
Recall that earlier in February 2026, REA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to deploy solar power systems to 15 public institutions across Nigeria.
The project will be implemented under the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP), a World Bank-supported initiative aimed at expanding off-grid electricity access across West Africa and the Sahel.
ECOWAS will provide a $700,000 grant to fund the installation of solar photovoltaic systems in selected rural health centres and schools in the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, and Nasarawa States.
Oil & Energy
PIA: TotalEnergies Transfers OLO Oilfield HCDT Obligation To Aradel ……Says HCDT Enabled Completion of 100 Projects In 2 years
In his remarks, the Community Affairs Manager, Aradel Holdings Plc, Blessyn Okpowo, affirmed the company’s commitment to honouring all PIA obligations and continuing Total Energies’ community engagement approach.“We want to say that in line with the PIA, we will honour commitments and duties required of the settlor and we want to work very smoothly with the way TotalEnergies has worked with them,” he stated.
He recognised the Commission’s role in approving the Community Development Plan (CDP) before project start, underscoring regulatory excellence.The parties noted that between 2023 and 2025, the trust has enabled the completion of more than 100 community projects, spanning water supply, electricity, road infrastructure, education, and healthcare with a further 40 projects currently ongoing.
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