Residents of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, have expressed fears over the increasing cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, stressing that the development will create unsettled economic challenges.
They said the spiralling cost of the product is disincentive to the Federal Government’s campaign for the use of gas and clean energy transmission.
Speaking with our correspondent in Port Harcourt over the development, a dealer in the sector, Mr Taiwo Ayodele said there is heavy switch from cooking gas to charcoal and other unacceptable fuel inspite of ongoing option for zero emission on the environment.
He stated that the ravaging flood in Nigeria recently has had its toll on the energy sector having destroyed gas facilities in the country, forcing the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Limited to declare force majeure on its gas operations for over three weeks running.
Ayodele stated that there are concerns over the action of the company and its implication to the supply of the product as well as their purchasing power.
According to him, “some domestic users of the product lamented that it is a question of time for the price of cooking gas to skyrocket.
“There was panic purchasing of cooking gas by consumers of the product in some parts of the State and county in order to stave off likely increase in the cost of cooking gas”.
Lending credence to the issue , a lecturer in the Department of Petro- Chemical Engineering, Rivers State University (RSU), Nkpolu, Port-Harcourt, Dr. Desmond Amakiri, urged Nigerians on the need to not rush to fill their gas cylinders, noting that there are enough quantities of LPG to satisfy the market.
Amakiri said the flooding or force majeure declared has no impact on LPG availability, adding that the NLNG account for 40 percent supply of gas in the domestic market and in recent times has been the sole supplier for the domestic market.
He explained that the firm’s plant was in operation at a limited capacity, due to reduced gas supply from some of its upstream gas suppliers.
“None of NLNG’s assets on Bonny Isand or in any of its host communities are impacted by the flood. The Force Majeure is as a consequence of a similar notice by upstream gas suppliers due to the impact of flood in their production facilities.
“NLNG continues to monitor the situation with upstream gas suppliers and is currently evaluating the impact of the flood on its business”, he said.
The university don assured that the company is working with critical stakeholders to mitigate the impact on product deliveries.
Meanwhile, another marketer of LPG in the state, Mrs. Sonia Ndukwe, revealed that some Nigerians paid as much as N15,000 for a 12.5kg LPG as at September, 2022.
According to her, average price of 5kg cooking gas increased from #4,397.68 in July to #4,456.56 in August, 2022, vindicating a 1.34 percent increase on a month- to- month basis from what was obtained in July.
Ndukwe, however, appealed for calm, saying that normalcy would be restored, and that “cooking gas consumers need not panic about a possible scarcity of the product as a result of the force majeure”.
She stated that, “based on information reaching distributors, marketers and consumers, NLNG has not shut down its production facility in Bonny as rumoured.
According to her, LNLG had recently shipped a cargo of LPG for the domestic market and assured the consuming public that the supply of LPG from NLNG has not stopped.
“We should not give chance for price hike due to speculated shortage of the product. Nigerians are already in hard times sequel to the war between Russia and Ukraine which had caused upset in the markets and scarcity”, Ndukwe said.

By: Theresa Frederick