By Edeki Igafe
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has urged Nigerians to embrace the LPG penetration policy of the Federal Government.
The policy is aimed at increasing the domestic use of cooking gas, officially known as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Mr Ignatius Anyanwu, Zonal Operations Controller, NUPRC, Warri Zonal Office, made the call on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri, Delta.
He said as a result of the penetration policy there was growing awareness and use of LPG.
Anyanwu, however, noted that with improved sensitisation on the use of the fuel, coupled with good investment climate, the LPG subsector would grow faster.
“The future of the LPG is very bright in the sense that as the awareness is growing and with good investment climate, a lot of investors will come into the sector.
“The fuel will be penetrating deeper into the cities and rural communities. Currently, the awareness is more in the cities than in the rural areas.
“People are being sensitised and are realising that LPG is a cleaner form of energy for cooking. It is better than kerosene or firewood.
Anyanwu expressed optimism that as the nation’s economy improved, more people would switch over to LPG.
He urged people to be patient as the investment climate continued to improve, noting that in a short while the economy would be much better.
“We cannot easily get to everywhere in the short run, but gradually it will build up and the investment climate will improve.
“By implication, it will create employment opportunities because as we expand and facilities spring up, there will be more jobs, more cleaner energy and more sane environment,” he said.
Speaking on the availability and the high cost of cooking gas, Anyanwu said that the prevailing price was determined by global market forces.
According to him, the increase in the local consumption of LPG and the growing awareness had ultimately affected the demand and the price.
He added that there were many factors to put into consideration while deciding gas pricing.
“Gas is a product that is regulated worldwide, so the global market affects the local markets as well.
Again the local production is also not meeting up with the huge demand.
“We have local production and few of them are coming up trying to make sure that we have LPG to increase the production in the country.
“As we have more investment, it will ease cost because the availability will tend to bring down the cost,” he said.
For the benefit of Nigerians who were concerned about gas flaring, Anyanwu pointed out that gas being burnt in the course of crude production was different from LPG. (NAN)
