Cooking gas prices across Nigeria don drop seriously for the past two months, as Federal Government import permits don start to work for market. One kilogram of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), wey dem dey call cooking gas, now dey sell around N1,400 for Lagos, Enugu, and plenty other cities. This one na 39 percent drop from the N2,000 to N2,300 wey we see for June.
Industry insiders wey know wetin dey happen say di main reason na di plenty imported LPG wey don enter market, and dis one don finally make prices com down. One source wey dey familiar with di approvals tell BusinessDay say: “Di rate wey dem approve import permits recently na massive. Dat na why prices dey crash.”
Another source explain say di US-Iran conflict first scatter global LPG market, but di wahala to get import approvals from government also make shortage worse. According to am: “Di initial problem na di US-Iran conflict, wey disrupt di global LPG market. Then we get financing challenges and difficulties for getting import permits from government to complement local supply gaps.”
Even as BusinessDay dey try to get comment from Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), dem no gree answer as at press time. But official NMDPRA data show say imports don play big role for stabilising market. According to di regulator June 2026 Fact Sheet, average daily LPG receipts increase by 24 percent, from 4.1 kilotonnes per day (KT/D) for May to 5.1 KT/D for June. But dis increase na almost entirely from imports.
Domestic LPG supply actually drop by 10 percent month-on-month, from 4.0 KT/D to 3.6 KT/D. Meanwhile, imports shoot up from just 0.1 KT/D for May to 1.5 KT/D for June — na about 1,400 percent increase. Di figures show say imported volumes more than cover di weak domestic production, so supply availability don better and wholesale prices don moderate.
Di fresh approvals dey follow wetin NMDPRA announce for June after cooking gas prices reach record levels. For one emergency stakeholders meeting wey Ekperikpe Ekpo, minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), call, Rabiu Umar wey be Chief Executive Officer of di authority, talk say dem go issue and monitor import permits to fill di estimated 165,000-metric-tonne LPG supply gap for di third quarter of 2026.
Umar describe imports as di quickest solution to stabilise supply while domestic production dey expand. E say: “Di projected third-quarter supply gap na 165,000 metric tonnes. NMDPRA go issue import permits and closely monitor issued permits for performance.” E also talk say dem get plan to redirect part of Nigeria exported LPG volumes go domestic market.
Meanwhile, di ANOH Gas Plant don dey expected to start supplying about 50 metric tonnes of LPG daily. According to Umar, di regulator dey also audit companies wey dey lift LPG from Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) to improve distribution efficiency and stop market distortion.
Ogbugo Ukoha, NMDPRA executive director for Distribution Systems, Storage and Retail Infrastructure, say di earlier spike for cooking gas prices na because domestic supply no reach, weak import volumes, profiteering, and distribution bottlenecks. E talk say regulatory interventions don double national LPG supply sufficiency from 11 days to 22 days, as four import cargoes wey total about 16,000 metric tonnes don arrive, while average daily supply don pass 5,000 metric tonnes.
Di regulator also promise say dem go enforce stricter action against profiteering, speed up licensing of LPG storage and blending facilities, expand distribution infrastructure, and faster implementation of domestic gas processing projects.
