US Strengthens As Main LPG Supplier To West Africa

US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its 2023 statistics.

They show a strong increase of butane exports to West Africa from 0.9 million mt in 2022 to 1.6 million mt in 2023. In a regional deepdive, butane exports to Nigeria have also increased from 0.3 million mt to 0.5 million mt.

On the whole, US butane exports raised from 14.1 million in 2022 to 15.6 million mt in 2023. The countries and regions that took most part of this increase were West Africa, South East Asia and Japan. This makes sense if we think LPG consumption is growing in West Africa and South East Asia.

This has also implications for import and wholesale prices in West Africa. US export contracts are linked to Mont Belvieu prices. Thus, West Africa import and wholesale prices are linked to Mont Belvieu prices too. This means that wholesale prices in West Africa will raise when supply – demand balance is tight and wholesale prices in West Africa will go down when supply in US Gulf clearly exceeds internal demand and export terminals capacity.

Now, would you like to know what to expect from wholesale prices in West Africa for the next weeks? Just have a look to Mont Belvieu evolution in LPG in Nigeria.

Source: US Energy Information Administration (EIA)

• Lpg
• Us
• Energy
• Butane exports
• Eia
• Lpg supplier
• West africa
• Usa

Jose Luis Garcia

Experienced Oil and Gas professional in Europe and South America, working for 30 years to improve people's life through LPG