Despite the abundant gas reserves in the country, about 62 per cent of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas otherwise known as cooking gas consumed by the Nigerians last year was imported.

Figures for the year under review released by

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency gave the information in the latest report, which showed that while 45 per cent of the import was from the United States of America, 3.95 per cent was from Argentina and 8.99 per cent from Equatorial Guinea.

The gas reserves in Nigeria have been put at over 200 trillion cubic feet.

Other countries that supplied the product to Nigeria were given as Algeria, 0.88; Trinidad and Tobago, 1.67; India, 0.50; Spain, 0.74. Nigeria could only locally source for about 37.42 per cent of the cooking gas.

The report also indicated that between January and December last year, about 526 million metric tonnes of the hydrocarbon was sourced abroad, while Nigeria produced 314.5 million tonnes, totaling about 840.5 million metric tonnes.

The PPPRA report, which gave no reason for the monthly import fluctuations, showed that the imports grew from 32.31 per cent in February to 100 per cent in August before falling to 77 per cent in December.

It stated, “The challenges of the LPG domestic market include inefficient distribution chain, pricing distortion occasioned by high LPG price, limited jetty, limited depot storage, inadequate and under-supplied LPG terminals, unsafe cylinder population among others.”

For the current year, the report indicated that over 71 per cent of the LPG was imported in the month of August 2020 alone.

For August 2020, a total of 123.5 million metric tonnes were supplied, out of which 88.1 million tonnes were imported, while 35.3 million tonnes were sourced within the country.

The PPPRA named Algasco LPG Services Limited, a subsidiary of Vitol, as the highest importer of the commodity into the country in August 2020, with 43,888 MT (VAC) of the LPG, representing 48.78 per cent of the total import, and 35.52 per cent of total LPG supplied within the period.

Other importers of the product into the country were Matrix Energy, 19,770 MT (VAC); Prudent Energy and Services Limited, 9,568 MT (VAC) of LPG, and NIPCO, 10,893 MT (VAC).

It said of the 35.3 MT (VAC) of the LPG locally sourced in August, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) supplied 3.634.401 MT (VAC); NIPCO, 9,383.680 MT (VAC); Algasco, 4,107.667 MT (VAC), and Stockgap Fuels Limited, 9,058.139 MT (VAC).

It added that the product was discharged at Lister Jetty, Apapa; Matrix Jetty, Warri; Prudent Energy Jetty, Oghara; Bulk Oil Plant, Apapa; North Oil Jetty and Stockgap Jetty in Port Harcourt.