Cooking gas scarcity temporary – major dealers, as price skyrockets
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or cooking gas suppliers have assured of an end to the current scarcity of the commodity in parts of the country, including Lagos, Kano and Borno states, and others.
The gas dealers who blamed the current scarcity on the breakdown of a marine vessel scheduled to feed the Lagos terminal with the commodity, as they claimed the situation is temporary.
Cooking gas scarcity
So far, with the terminal in Lagos still rationing supplies to major dealers, cooking gas remains in short supply, just as the situation has further worsened an already high-rising price of LPG across the country.
Checks across filling stations and retail outlets in parts of Lagos State indicated that only few of them were dispensing the product with varied prices.
In prices monitored, the commodity now sells for between N1, 100 and N1, 300 per kilogram in Lagos alone, with the situation said to be worse in other parts of the country.
At Iyana Ipaja in the Alimosho local government area of Lagos, two retail gas stations with only one of them dispensing. At Petrocam Station at Ile-Epo, Oke Odo, in Lagos also, it was observed that a 12.5kg cylinder was still being sold at N12,000, Tuesday, but the product was not available.
In Kano, the scarcity has been persistent even as a kilogramme is being sold for N1,300 in some of the stations.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had, last month, disclosed that the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas, increased by 1.81 per cent on a month-on-month basis from the N4,115.32 recorded in August 2023 to N4,189.96 in September 2023.
According to the NBS, the commodity sold for close to N5, 000 in some states across the country, in the August review.
In its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch report for September 2023, the NBS said there was however a decline in price on a year-on-year basis.
“On a year-on-year basis, this declined by 6.36% from N4,474.48 in September 2022.”
The report also indicated that there was also an increase in the price of Gas across the nation, with some key Northern states selling at the most rates.
“On state profile analysis, Kwara recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N4,866.60, followed by Benue with N4,789.26, and Adamawa with N4,785.71.
Meanwhile, this is also as the commodity, last month, October, reached a staggering N1000 per kilogram as retailers or major dealers of the product accuse terminal owners of hiking charges under the guise of high foreign exchange rate in the country.
In Lagos, the price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of the commodity has also reached N12, 500 as a result, from the previous N10, 000 it was sold in the market.
President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Mr. Olatunbosun Oladapo, had also warned that the price of 12.5kg cooking gas could hit as high as N18,000 by December, 2023 if the Federal Government does not call terminal owners to order.
Mr Oladapo who informed newsmen that the government was yet to wade into the impasse between his members and the terminal owners over pricing of the commodity, said its dispute with the latter is yet to receive the attention of the Federal Government’s agency responsible, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) by way of its intervention into the matter.
According to him, the terminal owners were ‘hiding under the guise of high foreign exchange to increase price, and further increase the suffering of the masses,’ adding further that gas retailers still buy 20 metric tons of the commodity at the price of N14 million at the depot operated by the terminal owners.
“We still buy a 20 MT truck at N14m at the depots. And the price of diesel has increased that it now costs N1.7m to take gas from Lagos to the North due to the high cost of diesel. If we sell here at N1,000 per 1kg, just imagine how much it would cost in the Middle East and North.
“What we pray for is for prices to come down so that the ordinary masses can benefit from the decade of gas policy of the Federal Government that seeks to make gas accessible and affordable for the common man.
“There is a ridiculous hike in gas prices going on right now, and I am afraid that if the Federal Government does not step in to checkmate the activities of these terminal owners, price could reach as high as N18m for a 20 metric tons truck by December. This means that a 12.5kg could go as high as N18,000,” Oladapo said.
