The federal government has given the marching order to security agencies and regulators to crack down on hoarding, illegal diversion and speculative storage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) popularly known as cooking gas, as prices of the product skyrocket across the country.
Minister of state for petroleum resources (gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, who spoke at an emergency stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, stated that the Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigeria Police Force would be involved in tackling practices contributing to higher prices.
He passed a directive to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to intensify market surveillance and work with security agencies to eliminate artificial scarcity, discourage hoarding and improve transparency in product distribution and pricing.
Ekpo stated that marketers had expressed willingness to increase imports where necessary, while new domestic supplies, including from the Seplat gas facility, would boost availability in the coming weeks.
“We are also exploring a local blending initiative with Nigeria LNG Limited, local producers, and the Port Harcourt plant operator to move locally produced LPG closer to the market, reduce import pressure and logistics costs, improve reliability, and support more stable pricing,” the minister said.
“Marketers and importers (must) bring in additional volumes where required, share arrival and discharge timelines, price responsibly, and avoid withholding product for speculative gain (while) transporters and logistics operators (must) increase truck availability, clear delivery bottlenecks, keep haulage costs transparent, and move product quickly to areas of high demand.”
In a presentation, Rabiu Umar, chief executive officer (CEO) of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said LPG wholesalers and retailers are charging non-cost reflective prices, pushing cooking gas prices to as high as N2,100 per kilogramme despite significantly lower indicative prices issued by the regulator.
According to NMDPRA, consumers across the country are paying far above the regulator’s indicative pricing benchmarks due to marketer profiteering and distribution bottlenecks.
The NMDPRA said cooking gas sells for between N1,600/kg and N2,100/kg in the south-west despite an indicative price range of N1,018/kg to N1,177/kg.
In the north-central, LPG prices range from N1,550/kg to N1,950/kg against an indicative benchmark of N1,066/kg to N1,224/kg, while consumers in the south-south pay between N1,400/kg and N2,000/kg compared with an official guide of N1,021/kg to N1,179/kg.
