Tag Archives: Cooking Gas

NLNG discharges 13,000 tonnes of cooking gas to Lagos jetty in efforts to ensure price reduction

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The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG’s liquefied petroleum gas vessel has discharged 13,000 tonnes of gas to the Lagos jetty.

The vessel is scheduled to return to NLNG’s facility in Bonny to reload, in an effort to ensure adequate supply and price stability in the market.

Kudo Eresia-Eke, NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations, stated this in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES Monday.

Earlier, the NLNG had refuted claims that the company increased the price of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, in the market.

Media reports had it that the cost of refilling cooking gas skyrocketed during the past week, leading to increase in the cost of LPG products nationwide. The price of the product reportedly skyrocketed from 3,000 to 5,500 in some parts of Abuja.

But in a statement released by the company, NLNG said delays to vessel discharges at the receiving facilities in Apapa, Lagos, led to a temporary supply disruption. The delay, the statement said, coupled with jetty unavailability, resulted in temporary product shortages in the market.

“Recent delays to vessel discharges at the receiving facilities in Apapa, Lagos which are multi-use terminals with berthing priority accorded to vessels discharging other oil products (Petrol, DPK and Diesel), have (also) led to a temporary supply disruption over the last 2-3 weeks.

“For instance, NLNG’s dedicated LPG vessel has been unable to discharge LPG at the Apapa port since 29th December 2016 due to jetty unavailability, resulting in temporary product shortages in the market.”

While refuting media reports that the NLNG increased the price of the gas, the statement said that the NLNG rather softened the impact of price variations by continuing to subsidise the cost of transporting its about 40 per cent of total domestic market share.

“Nigeria LNG’s domestic LPG price is based on an international price index plus 50 per cent of the shipping cost of delivering the product to receiving facilities in Apapa-Lagos.

“That price is invoiced in Naira at the prevailing official interbank exchange rates, contrary to erroneous assertions made in parts of the media.

“The reality of this is that although LPG is produced and consumed locally, the product like crude oil, is an internationally traded commodity with an international price benchmark, open to global demand and supply pressures,” the statement had said.

“NLNG however softens the impact of price variations by continuing to subsidise the cost of transporting about 40 per cent of total domestic market share which it supplies from its production facility on Bonny Island.”

While affirming its commitment to the development of the Liquefied Petroleum gas market, the statement also stated that the company approved an increment in LPG supply into the domestic market from 250,000 metric tons to 350,000 metric tons annually.

“NLNG remains fully committed to the goals of ensuring LPG supply availability, reliability and affordability which are key for the development and growth of the Domestic LPG market.

“It is in this regard that the NLNG Board recently approved an increase in the LPG dedicated for supply into the domestic market from 250,000 metric tons to 350,000 metric tons annually.”

Cooking Gas: NNPC, Sahara Energy unveil steps to ensure steady supply

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has unveiled two dedicated vessels to help provide a permanent solution to the cooking gas supply logjam in the country.

The corporation said its joint venture company, West Africa Gas Limited, WAGL, in partnership with Sahara Energy, was unveiling two liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, vessels in Ulsan, South Korea to ensure uninterrupted supply of the commodity to the market.

The corporation’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, described the vessels as “the game changer in the supply network of the gas subsector.”

Mr. Ughamadu said the NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, who spoke at a pre-naming event in South
Korea on Monday, expressed delight that the venture established in 2014 had started recording success within a short span.

He described the unveiling of the two vessels as a significant milestone to boost LPG supply business in Nigeria.

Mr. Ughamadu said as is customary for ships to be named by the “spouses or sponsors,” often referred to as ‘godmother of the vessels’, the Group Managing Direcror, GMD, and the chief operating officer, COO, in charge of Gas & Power would perform the naming ceremony.

He said WAGL JV, which was incorporated in March 2013, would serve as the special purpose vehicle for the off-take, marketing and trading of Natural Gas Liquids, NGLs across Africa and beyond.

“The JV is to be run by two companies, NNPC LNG Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NNPC, and Sahara Energy’s oil and gas trading arm, Ocean Bed Trading Ltd (BVI),” Mr. Ughamadu explained.

“The Company is expected to take the delivery of two vessels- Halls 8182 and 8183 – from the renowned Korean ship building company,? Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Limited on Tuesday,” he said.

In the past three weeks, consumers of cooking gas have grappled with increase in the retail price of the commodity as a result of supply shortage.

There were reports of a hike by over 57 per cent in the cost of refilling cooking gas cylinders, with consumers paying a price tag of about N5,500, from the previous N3,500 for the 12.5 kilogramme bottle in some parts of the country, including Abuja.

But, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company, NLNG, which is responsible for producing and supplying the commodity from its facility in Bonny Island in Rivers State, said the scarcity was a temporary disruption in supply as a result of the inability of its vessels to discharge their consignments at the Apapa gas receiving facilities in Lagos.

“The delay, coupled with jetty unavailability, resulted in temporary product shortages in the market,” the company’s General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke, explained.

He blamed the situation on the priority attention by the authorities at the receiving facilities in Apapa, which are multi-use terminals, to vessels discharging other petroleum products, including petrol, diesel and household kerosine.