Olushola Omogbehin
Vanguard newspaper has reported that the price of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas, which is used by most Nigerians household has increased to N25,000 from N17,500 the previous week.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, NALPGAM, Mr. Bassey Essien, told Vanguard yesterday that the distribution of the product was disrupted by the recent industrial action by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN
“Dangote Petroleum Refinery is currently the highest local supplier of cooking gas in Nigeria. The crisis involving PENGASSAN scuttled distribution. Many dealers could not replenish their stocks during the period.
‘’What we are witnessing is a function of demand and supply. In practice, the demand for cooking gas is higher than supply. But supply would likely stabilise in the coming days, following resolution of the conflict,” he said.
The report indicated that many gas plants without the product were shut down yesterday in Lagos and its environs thereby making consumers of the product to move from one place to another in search of gas.
Not long ago, Dangote revealed that his refinery was producing 2,000 tonnes of LPG per day in order to increase output and meet the nation’s demand.
“If the distributors are not trying to bring it down, we’ll go directly and sell to consumers so that people will now transit from firewood or kerosene to LPG for cooking.”
Already, Nigerians have described the experience of scampering from one place to the other in order to get the product as frustrating. Long queues had become the order of the day with retailers selling 1kg between N2, 000, N3,000 and N3,500 per kilogramme depending on the location.
In filling stations, it is sold at N2,500 with many of customers waiting for their turn. A buyer of the product who spoke anonymously said she spent hours searching for gas the previous day and eventually gave up.
She said the situation is now forcing many households to resolve to alternative like charcoal in order to provide food for their household. Similarly.
Corroborating Bassey Essien’s position, the President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), Olatunbosun Oladapo, who also blamed the sudden rise in the cost of gas to a temporary supply distortion caused by PENGASSAN strike and internal maintenance at the Dangote Refinery, he said that normalcy is expected to return in days as full scale loading is expected to resume by Dangote and other suppliers.
“At the moment, I can tell you authoritatively that most of our LPG supply is produced locally. Importation is minimal. In fact, if you import now, you might incur losses because local supply has increased significantly,” the president said.
