The price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas
(cooking gas) has risen by about 16.6 per cent at most retail outlets in
Lagos and Ogun State following the face-off between the major supplier
of the product in the country, Nigerian NLG Limited, and the Nigerian
Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
As a result, a 12-kilogramme cylinder
of gas, which normally goes for about N3,000 and which sold for between
N3,300 and N3,400 on Monday, sold for N3,500 at retail shops on Tuesday.
However, customers were able to get the
product at gas plants at a reduced rate depending on the price at which
the plant owners sourced their products.
Major plants in Lagos and Ogun states
started rationing their LPG stock last Friday and began increasing the
price on Monday in some parts of the country.
This was said to have been caused by the
speculation of an imminent crisis in the gas sub sector as a result of
the crisis between NIMASA and NLNG.
Though over 80 per cent of retailers in
Lagos did not increase the price of cooking gas on Monday, checks on
Tuesday revealed that the price had been increased across board in Lagos
and other parts of the country.
Investigations by our correspondent
revealed that the retailers increased their prices by N500, thereby
selling a 12kg cylinder full of gas for N3,500.
The National President, Liquefied
Petroleum Gas Retailers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Michael Umudu, who
spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday, confirmed that
LPG retailers had increased their prices by N500.
“Retailers are adjusting their prices by
N500, and I can confirm to you that over 80 per cent of retailers in
Lagos have started readjusting their prices. You know people like to
take advantage of such a situation in Nigeria,” he said.
An LPG plant operator, who did not want
to be named, insisted that the product was available at the plants and
customers needed not entertain any fear that they would not get the
product.
Our correspondent, who visited some gas plants in Lagos, confirmed the availability of the product.
An LPG tanker was seen offloading the
product in a plant at Ikeja area of Lagos, while another plant located
around Magodo area was seen selling products to customers on Tuesday
afternoon.
An official at one of the plants said it
was expected that the crisis would lead to price hike because plant
owners and retailers would sell based on the cost the product was
delivered to them.
“If the plant owners source products at a
higher cost, they will surely increase their selling prices. It is not
as if they are just inflating prices unnecessarily. It is what plant
owners buy that they will sell,” he said.
Checks by our correspondent revealed
that some consumers now preferred to buy gas at the plants rather than
the retail shops because they were getting the product at relatively
cheaper prices there.
However, these consumers represent a
small portion of the cooking gas consuming population in the country,
which means that majority of the consumers will still patronise the
retailers.
NIMASA had on May 3, 2013 blocked the Bonny channel, preventing entry and exit of NLNG vessels over non-payment of levies.
Source: punchng.com
