Refilling a 12.5 kilogram cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, or LPG, also referred to as cooking gas, now costs N17,500 this week, up 34.6 percent on a week-over-week, or WoW, basis from N12,750 the week before. Vanguard’s investigations revealed that, depending on the locality, the current retail prices for 1 kg are N1,350, N1,400, and N1,500. Mr. Olatunbosun Oladapo, the National President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, or NALPGAM, stated over the phone that the recent increase was caused by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, or PENGASSAN, taking industrial action. He also mentioned that the supply value chain was primarily impacted in the South-West.
He pointed out that gas is mostly a supply and demand issue; if there is a shortage of the commodity, demand will be strong, which would raise prices.
” All gas plants were shut down when PENGASSAN started the strike, and the majority of gas plants had inadequate supplies. Our main supplier for product availability and affordability, Dangote, has not yet released loading invoices to our members who have had pending merchandise with the company for longer than three weeks, which forces marketers to pay a premium to purchase from other competitors. Other rivals raised their prices by taking advantage of the difficulties that the majority of our marketers are having with Dangote and the industrial action.
They purchase from these rivals since no marketer would want to leave his plant empty.
“In order to improve supply, we urge Dangote to truck out product to more marketers.” In the upcoming weeks, we expect the price will decrease,” he continued.
