The federal government has banned the exportation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly known as cooking gas,  to reduce the continuous hike in its price.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ekperikpe Ekpo, made this known in a statement on Thursday during an internal stakeholders’ workshop in Abuja.

The minister said the decision was to increase the availability of cooking gas in the domestic market.

According to him, once the exportation of the cooking gas is stopped, there will be a reduction in the price of the commodity.

Mr Ekperikpe said, “We are interacting with critical stakeholders to ensure that there is no exportation of LPG. All LPG produced within the country will have to be domesticated. When this is done, the volume will increase, and of course, the price will automatically crash.

“I am in contact with the regulation, NMDPRA; we hold meetings almost on a daily basis, and the producers such as Mobil, Chevron, and Shell. So, there is that hope that things will turn around. We don’t need to make noise about it,” the minister said.

He added, “And that is also why we are having this engagement to know exactly what the problems are so that we can address them once and for all.”

Recent findings showed a kilogramme of cooking gas is N1,400. In Lagos, Kano and some other states, the cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder is currently at N18,000, while it costs N17,500 in Abuja, from N9,000 late last year.