Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid (left), CEO of National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and Gabriel Kumi (right), Vice Chairman, LPG Marketers Association.

The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Marketers Association of Ghana has commended the country’s petroleum downstream regulator, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), for reviewing the mode of LPG importation by making it go through open competitive bidding process.

According to the association, the open competitive tender for LPG import would  reduce the price of the product on the market, which would in turn boost the consumption level.

It would be recalled that the NPA, in a release, said it held a successful maiden competitive bidding on Monday, 29th January 2024.

The NPA said the winning tenderer submitted the lowest premium of USD30.39/MT for the four lots that were tendered for, between March and June 2024.

“This is a significant drop from the current premiums which range between USD67/MT and USD98/MT. Each lot is about 20,000 metric tonnes,” the regulator said.

Commenting on the review of policy on LPG importation, the Vice-President of LPG Marketers Association of Ghana, Gabriel Kumi, said when this policy is properly executed, it would reduce the cost of LPG.

“We, as an association, have consistently called on government and the NPA to ensure that the price of LPG comes down, so that the ordinary Ghanaian can use LPG.

We can all benefit from the enormous benefits that come with consuming more LPG,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Joy News .

He added that the consumption of LPG had declined significantly over the years; hence, this new move would help increase consumption.

Checks by this portal indicate that LPG consumption in 2021 was 345,477,075 kilogrammes while in 2022, consumption was 305,076,209 kilogrammes.

Data sourced from NPA website shows that between January and October 2023, LPG consumption was around 259,375,659 kilogrammes.

 

 

Source:https://energynewsafrica.com