Nigeria’s energy crisis appears to be easing off slightly as the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas also known as cooking gas and household kerosene increased marginally by 2.7 percent and 5.84 percent respectively in December 2023.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Liquefied Petroleum Gas and household kerosene price watch for December 2023, said the average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) increased by 2.79 percent on a month-on-month basis from N4,828.18 recorded in November 2023 to N4,962.87 in December 2023.
The report said on a year-on -year basis, this increased by 8.70 percent from N4,565.56 in December 2022.
For household kerosene, the NBS reports shows average the retail price per litre of Household Kerosene (HHK) paid by consumers in December 2023 was N1,362.27, Indicating an increase of 5.84 percent compared to N1,287.10 recorded in November 2023.
On a year-on-year basis, the average retail price per litre of the product rose by 23.33 percent from N1,104.61 in December 2022.
The report also shows that Adamawa recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas with N5,725.33, followed by Jigawa with N5,686.88, and Lagos with N5,671.05, while Ebonyi recorded the lowest price with N4,071.43, followed by Imo and Abia with N4,088.24 and N4,155.88 respectively.
Abuja recorded the highest average price per litre of Kerosene in December 2023 with N1,650.00, followed by Ogun with N1,609.52 and Benue with N1,594.44. On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Kwara with N917.14, followed by Rivers with N969.70 and Nassarawa with N1,071.43.
Analysis by zone showed that the South-West recorded the highest average retail price per litre of Household Kerosene with N1,455.21, followed by the North-West with N1,420.48, while the South-East recorded the lowest with N1,264.49.
The average retail price per gallon of Household Kerosene paid by consumers in December 2023 was N4,529.92, indicating a decline of 1.17 percent from N4,583.44 average consumer price recorded in November 2023.
On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 20.69 percent from N3,753.38 in December 2022. On state profile analysis, Bauchi recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of Household Kerosene with N5,600.00, followed by Lagos with N5,273.53 and Ekiti with N5,234.38.
On the other hand, Delta recorded the lowest price with N3,234.29, followed by Bayelsa and Kaduna with N3,538.03 and N3,560.00 respectively. Analysis by zone showed that the North-East recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of Household Kerosene with N5,077.08, followed by the South West with N5,014.48, while the South-South recorded the lowest with N3,957.17 in the last month of 2023.