Weekly Mont Belvieu Propane-Butane Price Review June 2nd 2023

By Godwin Okoduwa ــ Last Update 04 June 2023

Weekly Mont Belvieu Propane-Butane price review June 2nd 2023

Our assessment for last week's daily Mont Belvieu propane and butane in USD/mt (9.2% down for both on weekly average):

29th May: Bank holiday

30th May: 305.4; 310.3

31st May: 288.3; 301.0

1st June: 293.7; 297.4

2nd June: 305.6; 305.9

The bearish run was sustained for both Butane and Propane prices. LPG - Butane prices closed lower by 6,25%; closing at 305.9 against a previous week's close of 326.3. Last week, butane price tested 297.4 USD/MT from 2023 high of 640 USD/MT in February, making it the lowest since October 2020. But how low could butane prices go?

Propane prices also closed lower by 5.85%; 305.6 USD/MT against the previous week's close of 324.6 USD/MT. The price direction for LPG is still bearish as you can see from the chart. Prices are likely to remain bearish in the short term. However, OPEC's body language suggests that there would be production cuts, even as Saudi Arabia has gone ahead to cut by 1 million barrels per day; according to Bloomberg. We'll see how oil prices respond in the coming weeks as we head into summer.

Local LPG prices in Nigeria

The big news is the removal of subsidies from petrol pump prices in Nigeria which has raised pump prices by over 100%. However, this hasn't affected LPG depot or retail prices.

Local prices at the depots fell further to N9.4 Million Naira at NAVGAS, Apapa depot while the highest selling by Friday was Prudent Energy, Oghara at 9.9 Million per 20MT. We expect supply pressures and dropping international prices to continue to push prices down.

On the retail side, the 12.5kg LPG cylinder sells for around N8200.00 in Lekki - Lagos but quite higher in other areas nationwide.