The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, yesterday, stated that Nigerians consumed 89,910 metric tonnes, MT, of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas, in January 2020, 7.9 per cent above the national consumption target of 83,330MT.
In a statement in Abuja, Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Abdulkadir Saidu, stated that over the past two years, domestic LPG consumption has steadily been on the upward swing.
Saidu attributed the upsurge in cooking gas consumption in the country to the impact of Federal Government policy and programme on deepening LPG penetration nationwide and increased awareness and utilisation of LPG in the domestic economy.
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Others, he noted, are the improved performance of private sector operators in the products supply and distribution chain; entrance of new players (investors) in the sector as a result of the enabling environment created and inclusion of new LPG storage and reception facilities in the NLNG domestic supply chain.
He said, “Given the current trend, the Federal Government’s target of five million metric tonnes by 2022 is achievable if the current tempo of sensitisation and coordination is sustained and improved upon by government, regulators and industry players.
“The Agency is committed to the realization of this objective and will continually strive to ensure the sustenance and improvement of the enabling commercial environment accordingly.”
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Furthermore, Saidu stated that the Federal Government has demonstrated its commitment to gas revolution priority by constituting and inaugurating the National Gas Expansion Programme, NGEP, committee to drive the deepening of LPG Penetration as well as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Auto-Gas Utilisation among other gas utilisation objectives in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.
He said, “Nigeria recorded about 89.91 thousand Metric Tonnes (MT) national consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in January 2020, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has said. The country exceeded its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Consumption target for the month of January 2020.
“As a custodian of petroleum products data bank, the Agency provides reliable data for all petroleum products operations in the country (imports and local) in line with her mandate number three (3) of the PPPRA Act 2003.
“According to government’s priority objective of attaining five million metric tonnes of LPG consumption by the year 2022, which puts the national consumption target at 83.33 thousand MT per month from 2018 to 2022 estimates, Nigeria has recorded 89.91 thousand MT LPG utilization in the month of January 2020 with a positive variance of 7.9 per cent above the targeted estimated figure.”
