The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday, explained why there is scarcity of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, and Dual Purpose Kerosene in the country.
The corporation claimed oil marketers were behind the scarcity of the product.
The price of cooking gas had shot up from about N3,500 in most places before the Christmas holidays, to a minimum of N5,000 for a 12.5 kilogramme cylinder last week, while kerosene which went for as much as N250 per litre is now sold for a minimum of N500 per litre.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, while speaking with Vanguard, said the oil marketers were responsible for the scarcity and the hike in the prices of kerosene and cooking gas.
Ughamadu said the NNPC had been consistent in bringing in petroleum products into the country, but its efforts were not being complemented by the marketers, who he said had refused to bring in products.
According to him, the LPG market was fully deregulated and though the NNPC was trying in this regard, it could not force the marketers to bring in the product, especially as it was not a regulator.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has lamented that there is no single drop of kerosene in any of the private depots and that of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Lagos.
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