The Federal Government has revealed that it is taking steps to address concerns regarding the supply and pricing of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the domestic market, commonly known as cooking gas.
According to a statement issued by Louis Ibah the spokesman for the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, the minister has intervened in the issue following a hike in the price of LPG per kg from about N700 to above N1,100.
He said the meeting, at the instance of the minister, which was held at the NNPC Towers Abuja recently had in attendance top officials of Chevron Nigeria Limited led by Sansay Narasimi; Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority led by its Chief Executive Officer, Farouk Ahmed and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited.
According to reports, the key challenges identified as responsible for LPG price increase include FX sourcing for imports and insufficient supply to the domestic market by producers.
Ekpo expressed the concerns of President Bola Tinubu over the astronomical increase in the price of cooking gas and the attendant hardship on the majority of citizens.
The minister who noted that Nigeria is abundantly endowed with gas reserves, said the situation where some of the multinational firms were more concerned with gas exports without dedicating huge volumes to the domestic market was unacceptable and should be discouraged.
He said, “With the exponential increase in the price of LPG, there is the need for the Federal Government to intervene and I am representing this at this moment.
“We acknowledge that some producers are exporting while we are faced with the challenges of importation.
“Public interest is the overriding interest all over the world for the government, and the demand for LPG will increase as we approach December…you have a public service obligation to collaborate with the government to ensure the security of gas supply, we need to therefore bend backwards and find solutions, to ensure that we have sufficient supply and stability in-country and that Nigerians have gas.”
The minister thereafter constituted a committee with a mandate to come up with recommendations on how to boost supplies and crash LPG prices within a week
Source: The Punch
