The Federal Government is working towards adding extra 25,000 metric tonnes (MT) capacity to the existing production capacity of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) otherwise called cooking gas to avert future scarcity of the all-important multi-purpose product.
The government said it believes that when there is abundance in supply, cooking gas prices will always be affordable and scarcity will always be averted.
Speaking at the ongoing International Conference on LPG organised in Lagos by Nigeria LPG Association (NLPGA) in conjunction with LPG Summit Nigeria, the General Manager, Gas & Renewables, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Olasupo Agbaje, stated that the government has realised that LPG, more than ever before is of relevance now by all parameters and now “all hands must actually be on deck.
“We have heard so much about the capacity has grown to almost 50,000 MT in the last 10 years compared to when we started with about 4000MT active capacity. We are expecting additional 25,000MT capacity within the next six months to one year.”
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He said domestic consumption has also increased significantly to current 98,000MT hoping it will hit 100,000MT by December 2019.
“We are anticipating that our per capita consumption will rise from 1.8kilogram (kg) per person a few years back to 4.4kg per capita end of 2019. So the potentials are huge. So, we need to harness them as much as we can.
“At PPPRA, we identify challenges that will inhibit the effective flow of products in the market and address them. We are also focusing on strategies that will deepen penetration which include cylinder programme, starters’ package and other programmes that will help in achieving our objectives,” he said.
He said the government is also looking into taxes and other levies that may help to deepen penetration of LPG usage.
“Recently, we held a meeting with stakeholders and we agreed on organising a stakeholders’ engagement where enlightenment and sensitisation programme can be adopted because this is what is done in other countries and we agreed to come together to emphasize the need for LPG and how safe the product is,” he stated.
In her comment, Chief Marketing Officer, Matrix Energy, Oluwatoyin Showunmi, called for more collaboration among stakeholders to address the challenges confronting the LPG usage in the country.
“If you visit some skid, you will see that there is still some knowledge gap regarding the use of the latest technology and new innovations as it is going on in the LPG industry. There have to be some standards before PPPRA and DPR approve licenses for gas plants to ensure safety and boost consumers’ confidence,” she said.
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