Nigeria’s Cooking Gas Import Dips By 35%

Nigeria’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, import dipped by 35.13 percent to 57,187.75 metric tonnes in vacuum, MT VAC, in September 2020, against 88,157.108 MT VAC recorded in the previous month, August 2020.

According to the September 2020 LPG supply data of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, the LPG, also known as cooking gas, imported in September 2020, was 37.81 percent lower than the 91,951.263 MT VAC imported in September 2019.

Using average LPG price of $300 per metric tonne and official exchange rate of N386 to the United States’ dollar, the 57,187.75 MT VAC of LPG imported in September 2020, translates to $17.16 million, an equivalent of N6.34 billion; the 88,157.108 MT VAC of LPG imported in August 2020 translates to $26.45 million, an equivalent of N9.79 billion; while the 91,951.267 MT VAC of LPG imported in September 2019, translates to $27.585 million, an equivalent of N10.207 billion.

The report added that LPG valued at $40.97 billion, an equivalent of N15.159 billion, was supplied in the country in September, with a total of 136,569.1 MT VAC of LPG, 1.02 per cent lower than the 135,191.4 MT VAC of LPG, valued at $40.557 million, or N15.006 billion, recorded in September 2019.

PPPRA LPG supply data further stated that the volume of LPG, also known as cooking gas, supplied in September 2020, however, represented a decline of 10.53 per cent compared to the 123,554.33 MT VAC of LPG, valued at $37.066 million, an equivalent of N13.71 billion supplied in August 2020.

The PPPRA data revealed that out of the total volume of cooking gas supplied in September 2020, 57,187.75 MT VAC, representing 41.87 percent of the total, was imported, while 79,381.34 MT VAC of the commodity, representing 58.12 percent of the total was sourced locally. In comparison, in August 2020, 71.35 per cent of the LPG supplied in Nigeria was imported, while 28.65 per cent of the total was sourced locally, representing 88,157.108 Mt VAC and 35,397.221 MT VAC respectively.

In addition, of the 135,191.4 MT VAC of LPG supplied in September 2019, 91,951.263 MT VAC, representing 68.02 percent of total LPG supplied and 43,240.137 MT VAC of LPG, representing 31.98 per cent of the total were imported respectively. LPG imported from US, E’Guinea

The PPPRA report further stated that 45,148.396 MT VAC of LPG, representing 78.95 per cent of the 57,187.75 MT VAC of LPG supplied in September 2020 was imported from the United States, while 12,039.356 MT VAC of LPG, representing 21.05 per cent of the total, was imported from Equatorial Guinea.

In addition, the report noted that a total of eight companies were responsible for the total supply of cooking gas in the country in September 2020.

The companies, according to the report, are Matrix Energy, NIPCO, Algasco LPG Services Limited, a subsidiary of Vitol; Prudent Energy and Services Limited, Rainoil, Stockgap Fuels Limited, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG and Ever Oil and gas.

In the import category, Matrix Energy brought in 6,380.319 MT VAC and 6,282.882 MT VAC of LPG from the United States of America; NIPCO imported 12,039.356 MT VAC of LPG from Equatorial Guinea; while Algasco imported 5,495.043 MT VAC and 16,045 MT VAC of LPG from the US.

In addition, Prudent Energy and Rainoil imported 5,345.514 MT VAC and 5,598.974 MT VAC of LPG from the United States, respectively.

In the locally-sourced category, Algasco obtained 17,730.162 MT VAC of LPG and 9,475.592 MT VAC from the Bonny River Terminal, BRT, NIPCO sourced 13,464.184 MT VAC and 3,741.719 MT VAC of LPG from the NLNG, Bonny; while Stock gap sourced 8,998.006 MT VAC and 9,480.627 MT VAC of LPG from the NLNG , Bonny.

Furthermore, the NLNG supplied 9,286.840 MT VAC of LPG, while Ever Oil sourced 6,962.884 MT VAC of LPG from the Bonny River Terminal.

Source :Vanguardngr.com