Lagos, Nigeria – A sudden explosion rocked a Mobil fuel station near the Airport Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday, sending shockwaves through the local community.
The cause of the incident remains under investigation, though initial reports suggest the blast may have originated from the station’s gas filling point.
In the immediate aftermath, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) moved quickly to address public concerns. In a statement provided by NNPC spokesman Olufemi Soneye, the state-owned oil company sought to distance the explosion from its own recently launched Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) operations in Lagos.
“The NNPC wishes to state categorically that the reported explosion has nothing to do with the NNPC Gas Marketing Ltd (NGML)/NIPCO CNG stations we have commissioned,” Soneye emphasized. He noted that the affected Mobil station was not involved with NNPC’s CNG initiatives, and that all of the company’s gas facilities in Lagos remained in safe, functional condition.
The NNPC’s swift response appears aimed at maintaining public confidence in its expanding CNG network, which is viewed as a key component of Nigeria’s energy transition strategy. While the exact circumstances of the Ikeja explosion are still being determined, the NNPC has moved swiftly to assure residents that its own operations pose no heightened risks in the aftermath of this incident.
