NNPC, Sahara Energy Unveil Steps to Ensure Steady Cooking Gas Supply

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 last week 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.
Shipping Position Daily findings from some LPG retailers recently revealed that the price of LPG has increased in the past three weeks by 57 percent, while some expressed fears that the commodity is gradually getting scarce.
 A retailer around Ikotun Egbe area of Lagos, Mr. Harinze Okafor told Shipping Position Daily that a 12.5 kilogramme cylinder of LPG which hitherto sold for N3,700 now sells for as high as N5,200. Arinze expressed fears of a possible nationwide scarcity, saying that the cooking gas is not even readily available for retailers most of the time.
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily, another retailer, Mr. Ayoola Sodeinde informed our correspondent of an increase in the number of Nigerians switching over to use the cooking gas due to kerosene scarcity.
He said “the major problem Nigerians are having is capital and the start-up cost, but recently, many have been switching to use of cooking gas” he said.