Abuja, Nov. 27, 2023: The Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo has waded into the challenges bordering on the supply and pricing of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the country’s domestic market.
The intervention on LPG (known as cooking gas) follows the rise in recent months in the price of LPG per kg from about N700 to above N900 in some parts of the country.
A statement on Sunday by the Minister’s Spokesperson, Louis Ibah said a
meeting, at the instance of the minister, was held at the NNPC Towers Abuja to discuss intervention on the the price hike.
The meeting had in attendance top officials of Chevron Nigeria Limited led by Sansay Narasimha; Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) led by its Chief Executive Officer, Farouk Ahmed and the NNPC Ltd.
He said key challenges identified as responsible for LPG price increase included FX sourcing for imports and insufficient supply to the domestic market by producers.
The gas minister thereafter constituted a committee headed by the Authority Chief Executive of NMDPRA with its mandate as to come up with recommendations on how to boost supplies and crash LPG prices within a week.
Ekpo expressed the concerns of President Bola Tinubu over the astronomical increase in the price of cooking gas and the attendant hardship on 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 for the domestic market was unacceptable and should be discouraged.
“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, the demand for LPG will increase as we approach December…you have a public service obligation to collaborate with the government to ensure 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,” said Ekpo.
