Ibadan, Sept. 27, 2023: Worried by the instability in price of gas, the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has appealed to the government to find a lasting solution to the increasing price in cooking gas and to ensure its stability.
Mr Abideen Olatunbosun, National President, NALPGAM, made the remark during the 36th Annual General Meeting of the association held in Ibadan on Tuesday.
Olatunbosun expressed concerns that if the rising gas prices were not addressed, gas might become a commodity only affordable to the affluent.
“It is very vital for me to state that continuous increase in the price of gas in the recent time stands as a big challenge to LPG marketers.
“The government need to find ways to ensure stability of gas price as well as make gas available to common Nigerians.
“As a country, we need to improve on our gas utilisation level and if we all adopt gas, it will save our forest and improve quality of our lifestyle and the economy will grow.’’
According to him, the hike in price of gas is a concern to all.
Olatunbosun, however, called for a collaborative effort between the government and the private sector to establish critical gas infrastructure.
The guest speaker, Prof. Sunday Isehunwa, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan, said that LPG offered a huge promise for increased domestic gas utilization in Nigeria
He said that the cooking gas also served as the country’s energy transition to net-zero carbon emission by 2060.
According to him, there is need for increased supply of LPG to meet rising demand and curtail sharp practices by some operators.
“The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) has been the major supplier of LPG, but additional supplies are essential through functional refineries, adequate natural gas processing facilities, and removal of difficulties in importation when necessary.
“Adequate Infrastructure development is highly necessary to enhance access to LPG by rural communities; accessibility will increase through increased economic empowerment of consumers, and relatively low costs of products,’’ he said.
Also, Mr Ogbugo Ukoha, Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Nigerian Midstream And Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, said that the recent deregulation policy would result to a reflective petroleum products pricing.
Ukoha noted that current data had shown that the domestic gas supply had overtaken the import supply.
He added that necessary infrastructures investment must be put in place to address challenges of gas reserve so as to achieve smooth distribution of the product.
“Our focus is to make necessary investment in gas infrastructures to increase LPG supply so as to force its price down for Nigerians,” he said.
The conference also featured dissolution of the current governing council of NALPGAM, election of new national executives and presentation of plaques.
