• PPMC targets 500,000MT in 2014

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE & GRACE UDOFIA

Efforts to increase the consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas in the country are being undermined by lack of access to cylinders in the market.

Currently, it is believed that less than one million cylinders are in circulation in the country because of the percentage of LPG consumers.

Furthermore, about half of these cylinders are expired.

However, consumers are unaware that most of these cylinders have expired, as their life span is 15 years, a development the Chairman/CEO, Ultimate Gas Limited, Alhaji Auwalu Ilu, attributed to lack of knowledge.

In his words, “Nigeria has less than one million cylinders in circulation because of the percentage using LPG. More than half of these cylinders have expired, and lack of knowledge is a factor.”

Speaking at the inaugural conference of the Nigeria Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, NALPGAM, Ilu noted that the development has prompted operators in the sector to invest heavily in branded cylinders.

According to him, these branded cylinders are directly supplied from the operators to the consumers, adding that Federal, State and private investors have commenced various initiatives to distribute branded and safe cylinders to consumers.

“There are branded cylinders in the market now and these cylinders ?are directly from the operator to the consumer,” he said.

Ilu, who gave the keynote address, urged LPG dealers to adopt an innovative approach on price to boost cylinder circulation in the market, adding that LPG consumption is what drives cylinder circulation.

He said “if LPG consumption is Low, there will be low circulation of cylinders in the market. There is a need for NALPGAM to innovate new ways to play down the price of LPG to boost cylinders circulation.”

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh, said the company aimed to increase LPG consumption to 500,000 metric tonnes by the end of 2014.  He stated that LPG consumption has steadily increased from the 1980s till date. “In 80s the country flared 75 per cent of gas produced but today, it has reduced to 24 per cent. At the end of 2013, Nigerians consumed 250,000MT of LPG.”

He added that about “3.2 million MT of LPG is produced annually but 840,000MT is provided for consumption. In 2011 we consumed 26,000 tonnes of LPG; in 2012, it increased to 180,000 tonnes, and in 2013 it also increased to 250,000 tonnes.