Liguipied Petroleum Gas, LPG producers in Nigeria and key stakeholders in the industry were told Thursday that government intends to stop exporting the commodity out of Nigeria following the recent jump in the cost of cooking gas.
Investigations reveal that the cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and some other states had climbed to about N18,000. It was specifically N17,500 in Abuja on Thursday, a product that sold for less than N9,000 in November last year.
In November 2023, a kilogram of cooking gas was about N700, but the product is now sold at about N1,400/kg. Some operators stated that the cost would increase further if the government fails to intervene.
LPG dealers under the aegis of Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers had earlier predicted mid last year that a 12.5kg cylinder would cost N18,000 going by the incessant hikes in its cost.
To tackle this, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, constituted a committee in November 2023, headed by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed.
But up till today (Thursday), the cost of the commodity has maintained a northward movement, as many LPG users are gradually shifting to the use of charcoal.
This not withstanding that information obtained from the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority which translate to total domestic production during the review period as 600,000MT, while imports accounted for 800,000MT indicating that in 2022, the total cooking gas consumption across the country was 1.4 million metric tonnes.
On the other hand, in 2021 total consumption was estimated at around 800,000MT, as domestic production was about 300,000MT, while the volume that was imported in that year was put at 500,000MT.
This implies that the Federal Government could stop the export of over 600,000MT of cooking gas based on its drive to crash the price of the commodity locally.
But while speaking on the sidelines of the internal stakeholders’ workshop in Abuja on Thursday, Ekpo stated that the Federal Government had asked LPG producers to stop exporting the commodity.
He named some international oil companies including Mobil, Shell and Chevron as producers, stressing that the government was interfacing with them to crash cooking gas prices.