The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, announced that there will be no export of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) until local demand is satisfied.
He made this statement during a workshop in Abuja on Thursday, where he mentioned that the government is focused on improving supply to the domestic market.
The government’s intervention comes in response to a more than 20% increase in the price of cooking gas this week, rising from N1,030 per kilogram to N1,240/kg.
Despite efforts to promote gas as a transition fuel, low production and increasing prices have made many Nigerians hesitant to use LPG.
Ekpo said: “You have seen the demonstration by the federal government by withdrawing all taxes and levies from importation of gas related equipment. It is a big incentive on the issue. of LPG.
“We are interacting with the critical stakeholders to ensure that there is no exportation of LPG. All LPG produced within the country will have to be domesticated and when this is done, the volume will increase and of course, the price will automatically crash. I’m in contact with the regulator, NMDPRA (Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority), we have meetings almost on a daily basis, and the producers of the gas like Mobil, Chevron and Shell. So there is that hope that things will turn around.
Questioned on why the removal of taxes was not reflecting on lower prices he said: “It is not going to reflect that way. We are dealing with human beings. The policy has been put in place and the investors want to maximise the profits that they are going to get from it all. At the end of the day we have to come in. That is why you have the regulator and we are interfacing with them to make sure they crash the price”, he added.
