By Eyo Nsima

The Chief Advocacy officer and Deputy Managing Director, World LPG Association, WLPGA, Mr. Michael Kelly, has expressed the commitment of the World LPG Association, WLPGA, to ensuring adequate production and supply of LPG globally.
Kelly, who was the Guest speaker at The Daily Africa Summit, said: “We are the apex body in the LPG industry. We have over 300 members in 193 countries around the world. So, we essentially span the globe and represent the industry from production to distribution through equipment manufacturing, shipping, and infrastructure all the way down to the end user. Some of our members are multinationals that have operations in many different countries and some of our members are companies that have operations in one country.

“Our mission is defined by three goals. The first is advocacy, which I lead and that is to promote LPG as part of the solution to future energy and challenges so that a solution can be found and used in a low carbon context in the future. Another one is business improvement, this is where we focus on good industry practices, how we as an industry can perform better, which is extremely important and keep our customers safe and grow in a safe and sustainable way. We also have the innovation and growth, which is where we focus on development of new technologies. I have talked a lot about renewable LPG, but I should also mention that there is a technological development, which is coming right now in East Africa, which is pay-as-you-go systems. It is being pioneered in Kenya with using MPEZA, which is a kind of text money.
“We have looked at that and are trying to see how that technology could be used in a different context in some countries like Brazil or Bangladesh that face similar challenges. Our focus is on decarbonization and the sustainable development goals, the post COVID-19 recovery and then security of supply, which has been added in and those will shift those three or four goals will shift at the end of this year as we go into a new three-year strategic period for business Improvement, it’s safety which is a huge issue as a combustible fuel digitalization.”
“So, how does our industry become more technologically sound and use the potential that exists to stimulate further development. We have found that our industry is extremely male dominated and trying to get more women in particular into the industry at all levels, including operations or Executives. This is extremely important for the work that we do and then with innovation and growth. We focus on renewable LPG and how we develop that and then many different applications, including Marine technology, which is a big growth area.

“LPG is being used for power generation. We also have LPG for transportation as one of our initiatives. I encourage you every year to follow this on the 7th of June every year. It is LPG day, which holds yearly. We encourage our members to get involved and to celebrate LPG day for approximately 24 hours.

“We have registered this. So, it is recognized around the world as LPG day. It is a great opportunity to promote the fuel and the industry and the benefits that it provides. We also have an annual event called LPG week. Last year, it took place in Dubai. This year, it will take place in November in New Delhi, India. In 2023 it will take place in Rome and in 2024, we shall be in Cape Town, Africa to mark it and definitely focus on African markets. So, if you are thinking of coming, this is a full week of events that focus on all different aspects and elements of the industry along with an exhibition.
“In summary, there was a price spike in 2021. I am sure you have noticed it. It has continued in 2022, although it is currently going down. Let me also say that the pandemic did not impact our industry that much, although there was production disruption in most countries. Global output currently stands at 329 million tones.

“However, consumption recorded a decline, although as I pointed out, some countries, including India that have big domestic sectors actually went up during the Covid period. It should be noted that the drop in demand was mostly caused by a fall in Auto gas consumption because most people stayed at home during the period. It should also be noted that we did a promotion on Auto gas in Nigeria earlier this year on social media to highlight the benefits that Auto gas can bring to the Nigerian market, including clean air. The campaign ran from April for four weeks and we had more than 500, 000 impressions on social media. This is the kind of work we do to drive LPG markets around the world.”