Weekly Mont Belvieu Propane-Butane Price Review May 12th 2023

By Godwin Okoduwa ــ Last Update 14 May 2023

Weekly Mont Belvieu Propane-Butane price review May 12th 2023

Our assessment for last week's daily Mont Belvieu propane and butane in USD/mt (0.5% up and 0.9% down respectively on the weekly average):

8th May: 363.6; 357.4

9th May: 360.3; 355.0

10th May: 350.2; 347.7

11th May: 342.9; 337.9

12th May: 332.5; 332.1

LPG Butane prices made a further decline; closing 4.61% lower than the previous week. Butane prices closed at 332.1 USD/MT against 347.4 USD/MT in the previous week. We may see prices hitting 300 USD as we move into summer days.

Propane prices followed the same trend closing at 332.5 USD/MT; 7.9% Lower than the previous week's close of 358.7 USD/MT.

The reason for the bearish trend remains unchanged; Negative economic data from US and China continue to affect the price trend.

Factors to look at for price rebound include; the US announcement that they might start the Special Petroleum Reserves (SPRs) and OPEC's projection of China's demand to 800,000 b/d.

Local LPG prices in Nigeria

Local prices at the depots officially crossed the 10 Million mark, with Stockgap selling at N9.95 Million per 20MT. There was also unconfirmed information of prices going as low as N9.7 Million per 20MT. The highest LPG price was at Prudent Energy, selling at 10.5 Million, lower than the 10.7 Million in the previous week. 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 N9000.00 to N10,000.00 in most parts of the country.