The Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has cautioned Nigerians against panic buying of cooking gas.

The warning, in a statement by NALPGAM on Saturday in Lagos, is due to the force majeure caused by flooding on a gas facility belonging to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd.

NALPGAM president, Oladapo Olatunbosun, said cooking gas consumers should not panic over a possible scarcity of the product as a result of the force majeure.

Force majeure is a common clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties occurs.

The circumstances include war, strike, riot, crime, epidemic or sudden legal changes, which prevent one or both parties from fulfilling their obligations under the contract.

The president reiterated that “based on information reaching the association; NLNG has not shut down its production facility in Bonny as rumoured.”

He confirmed that NLNG, on October 20, had shipped a cargo of LPG for the domestic market.

Mr Olatunbosun said the dedicated vessel for shipment of LPG from the NLNG plant in Bonny, “Alfred Temile,” arrived in Lagos on October 20 to discharge the product.

He said NLNG had assured the association that it would keep producing LPG based on the feed gas it received from its gas suppliers, adding that production was expected to pick up after the flood receded.

He, however, cautioned middlemen in the value chain not to take advantage of the hysteria in the market as a result of the flood, which had also hampered the distribution of the production across the nation.

Similarly, the general manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, NLNG, Andy Odeh, in a statement, urged Nigerians on the need not to rush to fill their gas cylinders as there was enough quantity of LPG to satisfy the market.

Mr Odeh said the flooding or force majeure declared had no impact on the availability of LPG.

The NLNG accounts for a 40 per cent supply of gas in the domestic market and has recently been the sole supplier for the domestic market.

Mr Odeh further explained that the company’s plant was in operation at a limited capacity due to reduced gas supply from some of its upstream gas suppliers.

(NAN)