Petrocam Boost LPG Supply in Nigeria with New Solar-powered Outlet in Ogun

Peter Uzoho

In a bid to lessen the present hardship Nigerians go through to get Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), a major player in the Nigeria LPG market, Petrocam Trading Nigeria Limited, has formally opened a new solar-powered LPG filling station in Ogun State.

The petroleum marketing firm said it has made huge investment in LPG bulk storage and retailing through active participation in LPG distribution channels to ensure the products get to the consumers in high quality and safety.

Speaking during the formal opening of the skid station located on Itele Road, off Isunba-Lafenwa Road, Ogun State, the Managing Director of Petrocam Trading Nigeria Limited, Mr. Patrick Ilo, said the new station’s capacity was five metric tonnes (MT) of LPG.

Proffering solutions to the rising price of cooking gas, Ilo urged the federal government to prevail on the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to give more LPG to the market in order to meet the growing demand of the people.

He stated that one of the major reasons the product was costly was because NLNG was not supplying enough product to go round the country to satisfy the huge demand for the product.

Although, NLNG had said severally that it was not to blame for the scarcity or hike in the price of LPG, saying the hike was attributable to the changes in market fundamentals including foreign exchange, the rising gas prices in the international market, the 7.5 per cent Valued Added Tax (VAT), and infrastructural deficiencies in the local market, among others.

Nigeria consumes a total of 1.2million MT of LPG but NLNG supplies 450,000 while importers are left with the remaining 750,000.

Lamenting that government was not putting their words into actions, Ilo said a lot of people had embraced LPG as a primary source of cooking at homes but not enough product to cater for their need.

Ilo said, “As we speak today, the allocation they (NLNG) give to people like us is very minute. They give us once in two weeks and it is around 200 metric tonnes. We now depend on imported LPG.

“Government through NLNG should increase the supply. Government is proposing the NLNG to use train 7 and with train 7 there will be more products for domestic market.

“In the main time, government should make a concerted effort in making sure NLNG give more LPG to the market in order to meet the growing demand of the people”.

According to him, another thing that is responsible for LPG price hike is the instability of the exchange rate in recent times which is affecting the price for importers of the product, which makes importation expensive.

Ilo revealed that the 7.5 percent VAT imposed by government on gas importation was another reason the price of cooking gas actually skyrocketed.