Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) marketers yesterday in Lagos, agreed to increase the price of the domestic cooking gas by between 70 per cent and 100 per cent, following the scarcity of the product.
The marketers lamented that problems, such as rising cost of buying LPG from terminal owners such as Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Algasco and others were taking toll on them. They also highlighted hitches in the supply chain, and monopoly as reasons behind the planned increase in the price of LPG.
The Executive Secretary, Nigeria Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), Bassey Essien, who spoke a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, said the cost of obtaining LPG from terminal operators has increased in the past few days. He added that the development necessitated a corresponding increase in the price of the product.
He said: ‘’Last week Tuesday, marketers bought 20 metric tonnes of LPG from terminal owners for N2.4million; the price rose to N2.6million on Thursday; N3milliion on Friday; and N3.5million this Monday. “Based on this, marketers have agreed to increase the price, at which they are selling LPG to both the individual and industrial users. “This is the only way marketers can recoup their investments and grow. By this, people would now be filling 12.7kilogramme cylinder with for between N3, 500 or N4, 000, as against N2, 800.’’
Essien said NAFGAS and PPMC terminals are mostly used for distribution of LPG while other terminals are sparingly used.
He said: ‘’As a result of this, most terminals are deliberately starved of gas. This means that marketers have no choice but to buy LPG from PPMC and NAFGAS terminals at a higher price. In the light of this, the two firms are controlling the LPG market, by determining who to sell LPG to. Often times, few marketers have benefitted, while others have not. From all indications, a monopoly has been overtly or covertly created in the LPG market; whenever a system is monopolistic in nature, few individuals or firms dominate business activities.”
