By Ephraim Oseji

Before now, the perpetual scarcity and abnormal cost currently associated with kerosene, once Nigeria’s most essential cooking fuel, would have provoked the majority low income consumers of the product into very challenging protest against the government of the day.

Demystifying Nigerians current unusual calm over unabated kerosene scarcity and choking cost, major indigenous downstream player, Matrix Energy Limited, says the development reflects the changing preference for energy consumption with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) gaining the edge in recent times.

Loqman Salam-Alada, Chief Operating Officer at Matrix, said increasing dependence on LPG in place of kerosene in most Nigerian homes has dimmed the importance of kerosene (DPK) on livelihoods and economy of the nation. And to ensure its consumption is no longer an elitist privilege, the firm continues to invest, in pains, to ease visibility and affordability of LPG all to Nigerians, irrespective of of location or economic status, ultimately across the country. This investment passion is rooted in Warri, Delta, with the birth, last year, of Matrix’s ultramodern gas depot in its Warri, Delta state tank-farm.

“Since commissioning of our facilities in December, we have been able to feed our facilities with LPG under difficulties in shipping as most vessels are reluctant to come to Warri axis, still regarded as war zone, compelling us to enter into long term delivery contract with charterer of MT Gremio. This will enhance our back-to-back supply of LPG, for distribution across the North, South-East, the South-South and the other parts of the country”, Salam-Alada said.

“In addition we have increased our LPG fleet of trucks from 14 in December 2017 to 41. Also, 40 LPG skids have been deployed across the country, ranking us as largest investor in LPG supply and distribution chain in the country. Significantly, the deliberate increase in the supply and consumption of LPG has gradually phased out kerosene. There’s no DPK in the market and its scarcity is not felt because more and more people are moving way from dependence on kerosene and turning to cooking gas. This is bound to continue because Nigeria’s consumption of LPG will continue to increase.

“Matrix’s LPG visibility drive has redefined ease of access to product by reducing the logistics challenges marketers faced before now. They used to spend so much in trucking product from Lagos to the South-South/South-East, parts of the South-West. Now, with closer facility at same purchase rate they would get it in Lagos, hitherto overbearing logistics cost is significantly trimmed. This, again, one reason consumption has measurably increased. Between December last year and April this year, we did over 30,000 metric tons of LPG”.