In a bid to increase its volume domestically to warrant a crash in price, the Nigerian Federal Government has banned the exportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly called cooking gas.
The federal government revealed on Thursday 22 February that LPG producers in Nigeria and key stakeholders in the industry had been told to stop exporting the commodity out of Nigeria, following the recent hike in the cost of cooking gas.
It was gathered that the cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and other parts of the country had skyrocketed to about N18,000.
In Abuja, on Thursday, the product specifically sold for N17,500 after selling for less than N9,000 in November 2023.
Reports say, LPG dealers under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers had predicted mid-last year that a 12.5kg cylinder would cost N18,000 going by the escalating increase in the cost of the product.
Meanwhile, in a bit to address this, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, constituted a committee in November 2023, led by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed.
However, until this moment, the cost of the commodity has maintained a northward movement, as several LPG users are slowly finding an alternative in the use of charcoal.
Meantime, addressing newsmen on the sidelines of the internal stakeholders’ workshop in Abuja on Thursday, Ekpo stated that the Federal Government had directed LPG producers to stop exporting the commodity.
The minister reeled out some international oil companies including Mobil, Shell, and Chevron as producers, emphasizing that the government was interfacing with them to crash cooking gas prices.
Just last year…
In November 2023, a kilogramme 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 failed to intervene.
Ekpo said, “With the issue of gas, you have seen the demonstration of the Federal Government by withdrawing all taxes and levies from the importation of gas-related equipment. It is a big incentive.
“On the issue of LPG (cooking gas), we are interacting with the critical sectors to ensure that there is no exportation of LPG. All LPG produced within the country will have to be domesticated. And when this is done, the volume will increase and, of course, the price will automatically crash.
“I’m in contact with the regulator, NMDPRA, we have meetings almost daily with the producers of the gas like Mobil, Chevron and Shell. So there is that hope that things will turn around.
“And that is also why we are having this engagement to know exactly what the problems are so that we can address them once and for all.”
