Nigeria to release LPG pricing template in 2020

Isola Moses

State-owned Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), in Nigeria, has said that the agency would release a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, pricing template latest middle of 2020.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports Mr. Olasupo Agbaje, General Manager, Gas and Renewable Energy of the PPPRA, disclosed this at an interactive retreat on understanding the dynamics of downstream sector of the petroleum industry in Abuja on Tuesday.

The source stated Agbaje disclosed the agency was working with stakeholders and operators in the sector to ensure a fitting template that would favour every consumer of the product.

According to him, the template will ensure fairness and drive competition in the industry.

“We are looking at middle of next year, we will come up with a good LPG pricing template that will serve all; you know that it is a fully deregulated sector.

“We will come out with a template that everybody will access and will be able to question any operator that sells above what the template says,” he said.

While commenting on the high cost of LPG in the country, the PPPRA’s General Manager, Gas and Renewable Energy, blamed the cost on incessant pirates’ attacks on LPG vessels and the delay in LPG vessel movement.

He added that the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) had initially brought down the price of LPG before the recent spike in the price.

Agbaje noted that the LPG market was very sensitive and reacted sharply to any disruption in supply.

“The removal of VAT on locally-produced LPG had an immediate impact on the price of the commodity in the market.

“There are many factors that account for pricing. When VAT was removed within one month we had about 20 per cent drop in the price of LPG.

“If you now check, we had some other incidents. There were pirates’ attacks on some LPG vessels. There are combinations of factors.

“It is a deregulated market; so nobody is tying down any price.

“You find that it had an immediate impact and then other factors now came in which affected the price and it now went up again.

“The LPG market is very sensitive. Once there is any disruption in vessel movement, or it is stuck in Lagos, you find that people immediately look and take position and them begin to adjust their prices.

On challenges facing the sub-sector, he stated “we have had a series of pirates’ attacks on LPG vessels. It is an issue that needs to be addressed.”

Agbaje further explained that the PPPRA had a strong partnership with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

The two agencies would continue to work towards addressing the challenges on the waterways, he disclosed.

According to him, the focus will be more on challenges affecting petroleum products supply.

“We have a strong relationship with NIMASA, but piracy goes beyond relationship; it is a criminal thing,” he said.