Households across parts of the country are beginning to experience relief as retail prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly known as cooking gas, decline following improved product supply and softer depot prices, The PUNCH reports. The latest market update from gas marketers showed that retail LPG prices have started easing in major cities after weeks of elevated prices, although the reductions have not been uniform because of varying transportation costs, distance from supply depots, and retailer margins. Checks by marketers indicated that cooking gas is now selling for between N1,100 and N1,350 per kilogramme in Lagos, Ibadan, and Abeokuta, while consumers in Benin City, Port Harcourt, and Warri are paying between N1,150 and N1,400/kg. In Onitsha and Enugu, retail prices range from N1,200 to N1,450/kg, while consumers in Abuja pay between N1,250 and N1,500/kg. The National President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Edu Inyang, told our correspondent that northern cities, including Kano and Kaduna, currently record prices of N1,300 to N1,550/kg, while consumers in Maiduguri and parts of the North-East still pay the highest prices, ranging from N1,350 to N1,650/kg, reflecting the additional logistics costs of transporting products to the region. Overall, Inyang said the national retail price range now stands at approximately N1,100 to N1,650 per kilogramme, although some neighbourhood retailers continue to charge above the range where transportation and distribution costs remain elevated. The improvement marks a reversal from the sharp increases witnessed from May, when supply tightness and rising depot prices pushed cooking gas costs significantly higher across several parts of the country. According to the NALPGAM president, the latest decline follows improved product availability from both domestic production and imports, lower depot prices, increased competition among marketers, and the disappearance of panic buying and hoarding after government market interventions. Based on the prevailing retail prices, a 5kg cylinder refill now costs between N5,500 and N8,250, a 6kg refill ranges from N6,600 to N9,900, and a standard 12.5kg cylinder is expected to cost between N13,750 and N20,625, depending on location and retailer. Despite the improvement, marketers cautioned that retail prices are yet to stabilize nationwide, noting that communities located farther from major LPG depots may continue to experience relatively higher prices because of transportation costs. Industry operators expressed optimism that sustained product availability from local producers, alongside steady imports, would further moderate prices in the coming weeks, provided there were no major disruptions to supply or logistics. Also, the National Chairman of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers Branch of NUPENG, Ayobami Olarinoye, confirmed that normalcy was gradually returning to the sector with more availability, noting that neighbourhood retailers who buy from plant operators at N1,300 to N1,500/kg are currently selling to end consumers at N1,600 to N1,800/kg depending on logistics. The PUNCH earlier reported that as cooking gas prices rose by about 140 percent this year, jumping from an average of N1,000/kg in January to as high as N2,400 between May and June, the regulator began issuing licenses for the large-scale importation of LPG to supplement local production shortfalls, which alongside stern warnings against hoarding from the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, successfully drove the current market correction.
