NAN-HE-13
Gas
By Kingsley Okoye
Abuja, Jan. 10, 2017 (NAN) The National Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers has attributed cooking gas price fluctuation to the use of international pricing module by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
Mr Sunday Ogunrinde, the National Treasurer of the association stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
He, therefore, appealed to the NLNG to revert to pricing of the cooking gas in local currency to so as bring down the current price when the product reaches the end users in the country.
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“ I don’t know why they will decide to use international pricing template to price gas especially now that the price has gone very high in the international market.
“Since it is a local product here and it is being given to the local market one would expect that it should be priced in naira.
“A situation where they use the international pricing template using dollar to now price every litre of KG of LPG that they give to Nigerian populace then they make the price very sharply, that is exactly what has happened now.
“So I think the government has a lot to do in this regard, the government can come in and compel NLNG at least the per cent that is made available for local consumption should be priced in naira.
“When that is done, then it will be more realistic and the price will become normal and you will see much more stability in the pricing system.“
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A survey by NAN reveals that the price of a cooking gas cylinder for a 12.5 kilogramme (kg )is between N3,700 and N4,500 against the previous price of N 3,200.
Additionally, the price of a 6 kg cylinder has shot up to N 2,200 from N 1,900.
According to the survey, a 5kg cylinder now goes for N 2,000 as against N 1,700 in November 2016 and that a 3 kg cylinder goes for N 1,000,as against N 700.
He, however, said that it was not unusual for the price of cooking gas to jump in the international market during winter.
“The truth is in Europe and other areas during winter they use more of gas because they need to flit their rooms and that will increase their consumption of LPG generally.
“However, that shouldn’t have affected Nigeria if things have been done properly,“ he stated.
The national treasurer insisted that there is no reason for international benchmark for pricing the nation’s gas, saying that NLNG supplies marketers a fairly reasonable quantity of the product.
According to him, the issue of pricing the product meant for the local consumption should not be done in the international currency and that NLNG should restrict international pricing template to exports. (NAN)
KC/OSA/YEE
Edited by Shittu Obassa/Emmanuel Yashim
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