Dangote Refinery has reduced its ex-depot price for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), commonly known as cooking gas, from ₦760 to ₦810 per kilogram.
According to reports, market comparison shows that both Matrix and Ardova depots have set their price at ₦920 per kilogram. A.Y.M Shafa and NIPCO provide their LPG at ₦910 per kilogram, while Stockgap Depot charges a price of ₦950 per kilogram.
The disparity in pricing, with Dangote’s rate at ₦760/kg compared to others priced between ₦910 and ₦950/kg, illustrates a difference of ₦150 to ₦190 per kilogram. This underscores the refinery's strategic effort to reshape the market and pressure competitors to lower their prices.
Industry experts suggest that the price difference is part of a strategic move by Dangote Refinery to regulate pricing at depots and combat unwarranted price increases that have historically disrupted the LPG market.
“Dangote’s post-maintenance price cut shows intent, not only to restore volumes but to realign pricing discipline in the domestic LPG market,” an industry analyst said.
This comes as the price of cooking gas soared from N1000 per kilogram to as high as N3000 per kilogram in Lagos and other parts of the country.
The sudden scarcity has led to growing frustration among consumers, with long queues forming at a handful of gas plants that still have the product.
However, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, attributed the recent spike in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, to the industrial action by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
Ojulari, who spoke with State House correspondents on Sunday after visiting President Bola Tinubu, stated that the strike had disrupted loading and distribution for several days, resulting in an artificial surge in prices.
Ojulari, however, assured Nigerians that the surge would soon ease as normalcy returns.