The Federal Government has banned the exportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), commonly called cooking gas.
The move by the government is aimed at increasing domestic volume and potentially crashing the cost of the commodity.
The current cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas ranges from N17,000 to N18,000 in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and some other states.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, stated on Thursday that LPG producers in Nigeria and key stakeholders in the industry had been told to stop exporting the commodity out of Nigeria, following the recent surge in the cost.
He named some international oil companies including Mobil, Shell, and Chevron as producers, stressing that the government was interfacing with them to crash cooking gas prices.
LPG dealers under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers had predicted mid-last year that a 12.5kg cylinder would cost N18,000 going by the incessant hikes in its cost.
To tackle this, Ekpo, had constituted a committee in November 2023, headed by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed.
The committee does not seem to have made any impact as the cost of cooking gas has continued to rise, peaking at N1,400 per kilogramme, compared to N700 per kilogramme it was sold at in November 2023.
Ekpo said, “With the issue of gas, you have seen the demonstration of the Federal Government by withdrawing all taxes and levies from the importation of gas-related equipment. It is a big incentive.
“On the issue of LPG (cooking gas), we are interacting with the critical sectors 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, we have meetings almost daily with the producers of the gas like Mobil, Chevron and Shell. So there is that hope that things will turn around.
“And that is also why we are having this engagement to know exactly what the problems are so that we can address them once and for all,” the minister said on Thursday.
