Group wants FG to intervene on scarcity, price of LPG

The National Association of LPG Marketers (NALPGAM) has appealed to the Federal Government to address the challenges confronting availability and price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) popularly known as cooking gas in the country.

Mr. Bassey Essien, the Executive Secretary of NALPGAM, made the appeal in an interview with newsmen yesterday in Lagos.

Essien said that there was a need for urgent intervention by government to curb the artificial hike and scarcity of the product.

He said that issues of pricing and gas off-takers bottleneck needed to be addressed by government.

According to him, in spite of gas supply by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to Lagos, most gas terminal operators in Lagos still sell between N5.4 to N5.5 million for 20 tonnes, against N3 million earlier sold in the year.

“Berthing schedule of the vessel is another problem, for now; out of three terminals, we have no one that principally serves LPG vessels but serve other products as well as LPG.

“So, most times if the vessels that are carrying other products come, they are given preferential treatment.

“For instance, the current epileptic flight operations in the country now occasioned by an inadequate supply of aviation fuel, the government gave berthing preference to aviation fuel carrying vessels and same goes for PMS too.

“When these situations arise, the LPG vessels may not berth and an artificial scarcity is created and of course, price starts escalating when supply cannot meet the demand,” he said.

Essien, however, lauded NLNG for its urgent intervention in the supply of LPG to Lagos, adding that without them, it would have been difficult for marketers to meet their demands.

He appealed to NLNG to increase the volume of LPG supply to Lagos terminal for domestic consumption and to close local consumption demand gaps.

The NALPGAM scribe said that foreign exchange scarcity also posed a serious challenge to the importation of the product, adding that it was difficult for marketers to access Forex from banks.

“We are a Forex dependent nation and even though LPG is gotten from within the country (through the NLNG in Bonny), it is still subjected to international pricing (Mont Belvieu pricing).

“All the filling plants in the country virtually provide their own source of power supply, the cost of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) otherwise called diesel, to run the generators, haulage cost are all contributory factors,’’ he said.

Essien urged the government to provide incentives such as tax holidays and enabling infrastructure like power to attract investors to go into production.

“The costs of other accessories have equally gone up; cylinders, burners, hoses, regulators etc and all these are imported components.

“All these things put together are responsible for the high price new convert from kerosene or firewood to cooking gas face.

“Our efforts have been geared towards urging the government to grant reasonable incentives to investors in the industry and also ensure that the refineries are back in operation so that gas is readily available,’’ he said.