Nigeria’s consumption of premium motor spirit (petrol) in 2017 declined by 2.3 percent in comparison with prior year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS data indicate that total consumption of premium motor spirit (petrol) fell to 18.36 billion litres in 2017 from 18.8 billion litres in 2016, a decline of 0.44 billion litres.
Lagos State had the highest share of three billion litres, about 16.53 percent of total consumption in the period under review, while Yobe State had the least share of 0.16 percent (28.9 million litres).
Consumption in Kano ranked second at 7.4 percent (1.3 billion litres), followed by Niger at 6.07 percent (1.1 billion litres), while Abuja came in at fourth position with 5.07 percent (934.3 million litres).
The months of July and August recorded the highest level of consumption of the product at 1.878 billion litres for both months. On the other hand, November recorded the lowest at 886.3 million litres.
Diesel, another important petroleum product also recorded decline in consumption by 2.9 percent. The NBS reported that a total of 4.75 billion litres of automotive gas oil (diesel) was consumed in 2017 as against the 4.89 billion litres of diesel consumed in 2016.
However, kerosene consumption, which prior to 2017 has steadily declined, increased by 27 percent to 944.39 million litres, an increase of 230.6 million litres over the 713.79 million litres consumed in 2016. This is despite cooking gas gaining ground among households.
Lagos state also retains the highest share of diesel consumption in comparison with other states at 30.65 percent with 1.4 billion litres and kerosene consumption at 16.98 with 160.3 million litres. Yobe also retains its least position for both diesel consumption at 0.15 percent (6.96 million litres) and 0.02 percent (219,000 litres) for kerosene consumption.
Analysts say the increase in kerosene consumption may have to do with increased availability of the product and the issue of access to domestic gas especially in the rural areas, as well as concerns over management of gas as a household energy.
They, however, said that adoption of gas as a household energy would increase in the near to long term as availability improves and prices stable.
