Nigerians are beginning to feel some financial relief as the price of cooking gas—also known as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)—has started to go down in many parts of the country.
This drop in price comes after a recent reduction in the cost of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), which now sells for between ₦910 and ₦950 per litre, down from ₦940–₦970 at stations operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Dangote Refinery retail partners.
In Abuja, the price to refill a 12.5kg gas cylinder fell from ₦17,500 to ₦16,250, meaning that 1kg of gas now costs ₦1,300 instead of ₦1,400. At gas stations, some people are even paying as low as ₦1,050 to ₦1,150 per kg, depending on the area.
In Lagos, prices have also dropped—from ₦17,283.58 in November to around ₦13,750 in April, and similar price cuts are happening in Edo, Delta, Niger, and other states. Across the country, many people are saving over ₦1,000 on every gas refill.
According to Chinedu Ukadike, spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the fall in cooking gas prices is due to changes in the market. He explained that when petrol was more expensive, people used gas to run generators and do other things, which pushed gas prices up.
But now that petrol is cheaper, fewer people are depending on gas as a backup, and so the price is going down.
“The alternative choice of energy in the downstream sector has impacted the prices of competing petroleum products,” Ukadike said. “The pricing of petroleum products affects the behaviours of consumers. That is the beauty of deregulation.”
Nigeria uses about 1.4 million metric tonnes of LPG every year. While 600,000 tonnes are made locally, the rest—800,000 tonnes—are imported. With the lower prices, Nigerians are expected to spend around ₦1.82 trillion on cooking gas in a year, down from ₦1.96 trillion.
Ukadike also noted that if market conditions continue to improve, cooking gas prices might drop even more in the coming months.
