“Whopping $7.5 Billion Needed by African Nations to Boost LPG Usage in Oil Production”

The African Refiners and Distributors Association has recently disclosed that an overwhelming sum of $7.5 billion will be required by Nigeria and other oil-producing nations in Africa to escalate the uptake of clean cooking gas, also known as Liquefied Petroleum Gas, among African households, in a bid to displace charcoal. The revelation was made by Anibor Kragha, Executive Secretary, ARDA, during an LPG virtual workshop by the group, stating that while sub-Saharan Africa had 14.4 percent of the world’s population, it had less than one percent of global LPG consumption, adding that many countries have little or no bulk handling facilities. According to the lobby association, the continent remains the lowest in per capita consumption despite having a massive abundance of gas, indicating the need for stakeholders to develop financial strategies and solutions to tackle the bottlenecks in clean cooking gas usage on the continent. The consumption of LPG in Africa has more than doubled since 2010, reflecting a 9.7 percent annual growth rate over the past decade, with Nigeria remaining the largest LPG consumer, and LPG being the fastest-growing petroleum product in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, David Appleton, the Vice President of LPG, Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Argus, argued that cooking gas was critical to energy security in Africa. Furthermore, Moussa Dabo, the Senior Associate, Investments, African Finance Corporation, emphasized the need to enhance governance and institutions for Africa to attract investments, highlighting that lenders prefer lending to organizations that are prepared to establish best-in-class business practices. Wagl Energy Limited later went on to argue that LPG consumption in Africa could improve if the continent was committed to resolving production challenges, prioritizing local markets, shipping, storage, and distribution to other end-users.