By George George Idowu
In order to curtail the continuous hike in cooking gas across the country, the federal government through the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ekperikpe Ekpo, has announced the halt in the exportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas from the country.
He made this known on Thursday during the “Internal Stakeholders’ Workshop” held in Abuja under the theme “Harnessing Nigeria’s Proven Gas Reserves for Economic Growth and Development.”
According to him, this came in response to scarcity and escalating prices of LPG across the nation.
Responding to inquiries about measures to mitigate the surge in domestic gas prices, Ekpo highlighted ongoing discussions with key stakeholders such as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, as well as major operators including Mobil, Chevron, and Shell.
He said: “We are interacting with critical stakeholders to ensure that there is no exportation of LPG.
“All LPG produced within the country will have to be domesticated. When this is done, the volume will increase, and of course, the price will automatically crash.
“I am in contact with the regulation, NMDPRA, we hold meetings almost on a daily basis, and the producers such as Mobil, Chevron, and Shell. So there is hope that things will turn around. We don’t need to make noise about it” he added.
After a recent market research, NatureNews also discovered that the average price of refilling cooking gas per kg in Nigeria as of February 22, 2024, is ₦1,350.