With the exception of NIPCO, all the major Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) depots in Lagos are now empty, our correspondent reports.
It was gathered that depots belonging to Navgas, NOJ, and PPMC had run out of cooking gas due to very high demand following the recent face-off between the Nigerian LNG Limited and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
“We still have a small supply of gas that could serve for about three days but if we load in the night, it is something that we can finish the next day,” a source at NIPCO told our correspondent on the telephone.
NIMASA had blockaded the NLNG Bonny terminals for weeks, halting the loading of Liquefied Natural Gas for the export market and LPG for the domestic market.
The situation, which led to cooking gas price hike and scarcity, affected consumers who had to pay through their nose to get cooking gas.
Though product supply was restored after the NLNG blockade was lifted, the available product was immediately bought by cooking gas plants, 99 per cent of which went completely dry during the crisis.
This was done with the expectation that the cooking gas vessel would deliver another round of supply to further cushion the effect of the scarcity considered as the worse since NLNG started supplying LPG to the domestic market.
While the vessel is being expected, our correspondent gathered that the depots are already going dry and LPG retailers feared that the market could be thrown into another round scarcity.
Checks by our correspondent also revealed that cooking gas price was yet to normalise.
The PUNCH had on July 25 reported that the price of a 12.5-kilogramme cylinder of LPG, which was N5,000 in Lagos and Ogun states during the NLNG/ NIMASA scuffle, had dropped only to N4,000, a far cry from the N3,000 the same 12.5kg cylinder of gas sold for before the crisis.
The National President, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Michael Umudu, who spoke with our correspondent, confirmed that the retail price for a cylinder containing 12.5kg of cooking gas was still N4,000 in Lagos and Ogun states.
He said the same volume of the product was still selling for N5, 000 in Benin because product circulation had yet to get to the state and the entire South-South and South-East regions.
While the depots are going dry again, Umudu expressed fear that the market might be thrown back into scarcity if LPG was not supplied on time.
Other stakeholders, however, said there was no cause for alarm, saying the hitches being experienced in the market was expected considering the fact that the depots and plants were completely emptied during the NIMASA/NLNG rift.
The President, Nigerian LP Gas Association, Mr. Dayo Adeshina, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, said the delay in further LPG supply was due to backlogs of loading schedules at the NLNG Bonny terminals following the NIMASA crisis.
He explained that the LPG vessel would have to wait for its turn before loading, while confirming that the depots were drying up. He, however, assured that it would only be for a short time as the vessel was expected to berth in Lagos on Thursday (today).
However, a source in the LPG market told our correspondent that the LPG vessel might not berth in Lagos as soon as expected
He said a vessel, named MT. Leon Posedon, had berthed at the NOJ Jetty with Aviation Turbine Kerosene and would discharge for the next five days.
This, according to him, may delay till Sunday the arrival in Lagos of Gas Providence, the LPG vessel supplying the local market.
The President, Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers, Mr. Basil Ogbuanu, said, “The market is already getting dry again. When the first gas was supplied, we bought 20 metric tonnes at N3.3m but the price has gone back to N3.5m because of high demand.
“The vessel is expected to get to Lagos on Thursday (today), but if for any reason the vessel can not load on July 31 and product is not available by this weekend, it means we are back to square one.”
In view of the recent development in the LPG market, however, the Department of Petroleum Resources has called for a stakeholder forum between it and LPG operators.
The DPR said the essence of the forum was to discuss topical operational issues’ in the LPG market.
Also, the NLNG said it had increased domestic cooking gas supply from 150,000 metric tonnes to 250,000 metric tonnes because demand had gone beyond current supply level.
This 67 per cent increase, according to NLNG, will enable ample stock of the alternate fuel and promote the use of cooking gas necessary for its salutary effects on the environment.
NLNG External Relations Manager, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, in a recent statement, said the company currently provided over 70 per cent of cooking gas used in the country.
The statement explained that the current increase arose from its recent survey of the domestic market, which showed that domestic LPG consumption had exceeded 150,000 metric tonnes, a demand which was less than 60,000 metric tonnes when NLNG intervened in 2008 with domestic supply of cooking gas.
The Managing Director, Nigeria LNG Limited, Mr. Babs Omotowa, while speaking on the new demand, said he was extremely delighted that NLNG, true to its vision to help build a better Nigeria, was able to increase its supply of domestic gas.
He added that the assurance of steady supply should increase investors’ confidence in the cooking gas industry, an industry which currently needs investments in storage, transportation, and cylinders.