*To supply LNG for power generation from 2022
OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Nigeria LNG Limited, NLNG on Tuesday said it was not responsible for the continuos price hike of Liquified Natural Gas, LNG also known as cooking gas across the country.
It made the explanation following several reports that price of 12.5kg of cooking gas has risen from N3,200 last December to between N6500- N7,000 in some parts of the country.
According to Austin Ogbogbo, marketing manager of the NLNG, independent marketers have been unable to offtake the full 450,000MT of LPG allocated to the Nigerian market by the company due to logistics, infrastructure challenges, as well as other factors in the industry.
He stated that the company was not responsible for the supply shortfall across the country, adding that, although the 450,000MT allocated to the domestic market was the total volume of butane produced annually by the NLNG, however, only about 375,000MT was purchased by gas marketers in 2020.
According to him, this meant that the NLNG supplied over 80 percent of its LPG sales (butane/cooking gas) to the Nigerian market and was therefore prioritising the domestic market.
Ogbogbo said the NLNG’s current maximum butane production can only meet about 40 percent of the domestic market demand.
He said the balance was supplied by other domestic producers or via imports because NLNG’s production alone was not sufficient.
Ogbogbo, however, expressed optimism that NLNG would increase its production capacity by 35 per cent with completion of Train 7, which will in turn boost domestic supply.
He said NLNG was primarily an export company that produces 22 MTPA of Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG and five MTPA of Natural Gas Liquids, NGLs.
According to him, the company was also working to supply LNG to the domestic market from 2022 to boost power supply and industrial development across the country.