The LPG Perspective from the National Gas Company Limited

The new prices for liquid petroleum gas took effect on Monday and consumers are now paying thirty-eight cents more per gallon of butane. The former importers, Gas Tomza, Zeta Gas, and Belize Western Energy Limited were stripped of their license to import butane allowing the National Gas Company as the sole importer. The matter is being challenged in court by Attorney Audrey Matura, who forewarned that under the new regime, LPG prices would increase. Today, the N.G.C. set the record straight, saying that in June 2019, when the importation was under the three former importers, the Mont Belvieu price was lower than what it is presently and the regulated retail price was significantly higher than what it is now. According to N.G.C., at that time, the three former importers dominated the complete supply chain and thus received the full benefit of this higher relative pricing.

On the Phone: Dr. Gilbert Canton, Director, National Gas Company Limited

“We are not price makers. We are price takers. We don’t dictate what a price is going to be on the international market. We have to take whatever that price is and use that a starting point as to how you calculate a price in Belize. That is how works. So we always talk about trying to make it as very, as the lowest cost as we can make. The buildup has not changed. It is just the acquisition cost in the US Gulf Coast that has changed. So you put that price that is exactly in the US Gulf Coast, the Mont Belvieu, the index price that you use and then you should see it reflected in the lower price index for the Belizean consumer.”