NNPC reveals plans to crash prices of cooking gas

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) on Tuesday detailed its plans to ensure a reduction in the prices of cooking gas amidst concerns by the populace over its inflation.

This was disclosed by Mele Kyari, the NNPC Group Managing Director who attributed the high price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to the rising price of crude oil and its derivatives at the world market.

He stated this at the inauguration of the Emadeb Energy Services Limited’s 120MT LPG Storage and Bottling Plant in Abuja.

He, however, assured Nigerians that the NNPC Limited was working round the clock to boost the supply of LPG to ensure a crash of the price.

Kyari said, “Two things are at play; one is the supply and the other is the international price of gas. It (price) moves with the price of every other petroleum product including crude oil and its derivatives. So it is a reflection of what is happening in the international market.

“What we are doing is to increase supply. Once the supply is increased the prices will come down.”

The NNPC GMD said that the newly-inaugurated LPG plant was going to “reduce the cost of energy for Nigerians for the fact that LPG is cheaper than any other product you can think of, especially as cooking fuel.”

He commended Emadeb Energy Services Limited for building the LPG plant in Abuja, explaining that the project aligned with one of the steps the Federal Government had taken to provide gas for its citizenry.

Kyari said: “We are aware that a lot of institutions and companies are doing this across the country. We are selecting this in line with Mr President’s objectives to make this the decade of gas.”

He also noted that the global energy transition had made the investment climate very ripe for gas.

“We know that the investment climate is very ripe for auto-gas and auto fuel, especially in terms of LPG as a transition fuel globally. So, we know that this is a big market for Nigerian companies and this is one of the great companies that we have around.

“As NNPC, we will come in and we will guarantee supply. That is very important for us as a business. As you are aware, we are NNPC Limited in Nigeria and we also have to make money for Nigeria. We will be there in the upstream to provide the gas.”