Minister Of Petroleum Resources Says Nigerian Govt Will Ban Cooking Gas Exportation

The Federal Government on Thursday disclosed that the exportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, will be banned to reduce the hiked prices in the country.

According to the government, this will lead to a crash in cooking gas prices across Nigeria. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas) Ekperikpe Ekpo shared that this step is aligned with President Bola Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda.

"All LPG produced within the country will have to be domesticated and when this is done the volume will increase and of course, the price will automatically crash," the minister said, Premium Times reported.

He added, "I am in contact with the regulator, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and the producers of LPG such as Chevron, Mobile, and Shell, we have meetings daily."

The minister said he is hopeful that things will work out and urged everyone not to make this a big deal, noting that the decision is taken to find a permanent solution for the hiked cooking gas prices.

Ekpo also spoke about the conversion of gasoline-based vehicles to CNG. "I am interfacing with them, and the committee is working to ensure that. We are meeting with the regulators daily to ensure we crash the price," he said.

The federal government announced last year that it would convert 10 million Premium Motor Spirit vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in three years.

According to a report, the cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder was N17,500, and now, it has reached N18,000 in various states, including Abuja, Lagos, Kano, and some other states. The same cooking gas rate was only N9,000 last year in November.

The decision came a few weeks after the Nigerian government assured citizens that they would take steps to fix the cooking gas price issue in the country.

Ekpo previously said that the government will "prioritize the domestication and penetration of LPG and implement measures to significantly reduce the price of cooking gas for our people, ensuring it becomes more accessible, available, and affordable for our citizens."

Furthermore, the minister said that the government is working towards the completion of major gas midstream infrastructure and projects, including the AKK Gas Pipeline Project, the OB3 Gas Pipeline Project, the ANOH Project, and the Brass Methanol Project to enhance the capacity of the gas sector.