KUNLE KALEJAYE

The continuous payment of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol to oil marketers in Nigeria has impeded the growth of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG as auto fuel, the Group Managing Director, Banner Energy, Mr. Nuhu Yakubu, said.

Yakubu urged Nigerians to embrace LPG as a substitute to petrol because it is a cheaper and cleaner fuel than petrol or diesel.

Responding to questions by our reporter, Yakubu said despite the huge amount of money spent on kerosene and petrol subsidy, LPG is still cheaper than them.
He maintained that if government stopped paying subsidy on kerosene and petrol, LPG will emerge as the  best option for vehicles.

According to him, ” the autogas market development in Nigeria is directly impacted negatively by government’s subsidy on PMS. Whereas LPG is much cheaper than PMS in a deregulated environment, this fact is however blurred by the natural attraction of energy consumers to cheaper subsidised PMS instead of the cheaper deregulated and cleaner LPG.

“Nigeria should embrace LPG as sustainable substitute to PMS, because it is potentially cheaper and cleaner than petrol and diesel which are the predominant vehicular fuels in Nigeria today. Even with the current subsidies on PMS and kerosene, LPG is still comparatively cheaper than PMS when applied as vehicle fuel.

“The calarofic value (heat content) of LPG is higher than PMS, allowing for better complete combustion and cleaner emissions.

“Continued subsidies on petrol and kerosene by government will not allow LPG to emerge as the better option as vehicle fuel.Subsidies don’t allow a fair playing field for LPG pricing in Nigeria, making it seem like PMS is cheaper than LPG, whereas it is actually not.

He also argued that the subsidies on kerosene and petrol is not allowing large volumes of LPG to be traded in Nigeria, resulting in very poor LPG trading infrastructure across the entire LPG supply chain.

According to him, subsidy removal will encourage investments in LPG coastal storages, distribution trucks, LPG cylinder filling plants, LPG autogas filling plants, LPG conversion kits for cars and power generators.