Market Analysis

Under development

LPG

A fossil fuel

Liquid Petroleum Gas in its natural form is a gas, but when compressed into a pressurised container, it forms a liquid. LPG has a versatile range of applications and is often a highly sought-after gas with commercial, industrial and domestic uses. LPG is colourless, odourless and combines two natural gases, propane gas and butane gas. Natural fuels formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms are categorised as fossil fuels, which LPG is. Other examples of fossil fuels are coal and petroleum, and when burned to produce energy, release carbon and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, negatively impacting the environment.

Environmentally Friendly

Although LPG is classed as a fossil fuel, it is also considered green energy due to having little implications for the atmosphere with harmful gases. For this reason, and its other benefits, many industries choose this gas. For example, this gas can be stored in canisters of various sizes and is at low risk of keeping in bulk outdoors and indoors. It produces up to 90% less carbon dioxide and is non-toxic. LPG does not contain sulphur, so when burned for fuel applications, it does not release as much carbon into the atmosphere, unlike other fuels such as coal and oil.

The Retail LPG Value chain

The LPG Value chain

The LPG supply chain starts with production at oil and gas wells and is also referred to as natural gas liquids – NGL. The unrefined oil and gas is shipped to refineries and gas processing plants. The LPG is then transported to downstream storage terminals. Distribution to end users is done with LPG cylinder delivery trucks and bulk LPG tankers. Consumers are typically residential, commercial or autogas users..

The LPG Retail Value chain

Inefficiencies to be addressed:

• Costly Subsidies
• Expensive LPG Retail Chains
• Social Unrest

LPG Consumption

LPG is available in even the remotest of areas, improving the lives of millions of citizens worldwide and providing an impetus to regional development. As relatively few rural or remote areas can benefit from piped natural gas, LPG is an ideal power source for these areas, either as a primary source or in combination with renewable energy. LPG is also increasingly used for large- or small-scale power generation.

Worldwide Consumptions

In the following map you can see consumption per country. The 30 countries with highest LPG households consumption are selected in the map.

#	First	Last	#	First	Last	#	First	Last	#	First	Last
1	China	237.89	51	United Kingdom	2.06	101	Gabon	0.23	151	Kosovo	0.05
2	India	192.30	52	Oman	1.97	102	Austria	0.23	152	Denmark	0.05
3	Russia	91.74	53	Panama	1.96	103	Cambodia	0.22	153	Lao	0.05
4	Indonesia	55.08	54	Yemen	1.94	104	Ukraine	0.21	154	St. Lucia	0.05
5	Brazil	49.60	55	Nepal	1.91	105	Benin	0.21	155	Turks and Caicos	0.04
6	Mexico	39.80	56	Ghana	1.83	106	Slovenia	0.21	156	French Guiana	0.04
7	USA	34.52	57	South Africa	1.82	107	Fiji	0.20	157	Norway	0.04
8	Japan	34.00	58	Lebanon	1.82	108	Niger	0.19	158	Belize	0.03
9	Egypt	32.43	59	Sudan	1.78	109	Reunion	0.19	159	Finland	0.03
10	Morocco	19.88	60	El Salvador	1.72	110	Réunion	0.18	160	Bosnia	0.03
11	Iran	18.53	61	UAE	1.59	111	Netherlands	0.18	161	Sweden	0.03
12	Iraq	13.47	62	Turkey	1.52	112	Suriname	0.18	162	Grenada	0.03
13	Thailand	11.98	63	Kuwait	1.38	113	Singapore	0.18	163	Barbuda	0.03
14	Algeria	11.76	64	Senegal	1.32	114	Bangladesh	0.17	164	Aruba	0.03
15	Italy	10.01	65	Palestine	1.19	115	Mali	0.15	165	Guinea-Bissau	0.03
16	Philippines	9.21	66	Belgium	1.16	116	Bulgaria	0.15	166	Mayotte	0.03
17	Saudi Arabia	9.04	67	Qatar	1.16	117	Brunei	0.14	167	Seychelles	0.03
18	Argentina	8.12	68	Sudan	1.15	118	Haiti	0.12	168	Azerbaijan	0.02
19	Viet Nam	7.76	69	Israel	1.14	119	Latvia	0.12	169	Jersey	0.02
20	Kazakhstan	7.54	70	Tanzania	1.07	120	Maldives	0.12	170	Malawi	0.02
21	Other Asia	7.52	71	Cuba	0.96	121	Malta	0.12	171	Tonga	0.02
22	Chile	7.31	72	Uruguay	0.90	122	Bermuda	0.12	172	Mariana	0.02
23	Ecuador	7.19	73	Albania	0.83	123	Lesotho	0.12	173	Samoa	0.02
24	Peru	6.70	74	Honduras	0.83	124	Mozambique	0.11	174	Dominica	0.02
25	Spain	6.64	75	Cameroon	0.69	125	Bahamas	0.11	175	South Sudan	0.02
26	Germany	6.38	76	New Zealand	0.63	126	Kyrgyzstan	0.10	176	Papua	0.02
27	France	6.24	77	Greece	0.61	127	Guyana	0.10	177	CRA	0.02
28	Malaysia	6.10	78	Antilles	0.60	128	Togo	0.09	178	Sint Maarten	0.02
29	Afghanistan	5.47	79	Costa Rica	0.60	129	Guadeloupe	0.09	179	Andorra	0.02
30	Tunisia	4.42	80	Bahrain	0.58	130	Polynesia	0.08	180	St. Kitts-Nevis	0.01
31	Poland	4.25	81	Hungary	0.56	131	Georgia	0.08	181	Iceland	0.01
32	Uzbekistan	3.87	82	Burkina Faso	0.52	132	Madagascar	0.08	182	Montenegro	0.01
33	Pakistan	3.79	83	Trinidad and Tobago	0.44	133	Bhutan	0.07	183	Samoa	0.01
34	Syria	3.62	84	Mauritania	0.44	134	Grenadines	0.07	184	Vanuatu	0.01
35	Dominican Republic	3.61	85	Jamaica	0.43	135	Congo	0.07	185	Comoros	0.01
36	Colombia	3.61	86	Moldova	0.43	136	Cayman	0.07	186	Myanmar	0.01
37	Bolivia	3.43	87	Mauritius	0.43	137	Cabo Verde	0.07	187	Luxembourg	0.01
38	Venezuela	3.11	88	Nicaragua	0.43	138	Anguilla	0.07	188	Montserrat	0.00
39	Nigeria	3.01	89	Curaçao	0.40	139	Djibouti	0.07	189	Armenia	Otto
40	Côte d'Ivoire	2.88	90	Belarus	0.38	140	Zambia	0.07	190	Solomon	0.00
41	Jordan	2.88	91	Ireland	0.37	141	Botswana	0.06	191	Burundi	0.00
42	Guatemala	2.80	92	Croatia	0.36	142	Ethiopia	0.06	192	Kiribati	0.00
43	Portugal	2.76	93	Czechia	0.36	143	Guinea	0.06	193	Marshall Islands	0.00
44	Australia	2.69	94	Serbia	0.35	144	Caledonia	0.06	194	Tuvalu	0.00
45	Canada	2.69	95	Uganda	0.31	145	Estonia	0.06	195	Sao Tome	0.00
46	Sri Lanka	2.54	96	Lithuania	0.29	146	Eritrea	0.06	196	Eswatini	0.00
47	Angola	2.52	97	Chad	0.29	147	Barbados	0.05	197	Niue	0.00
48	Kenya	2.37	98	Rwanda	0.27	148	Macedonia	0.05	198	Nauru	0.00
49	Libya	2.34	99	Cyprus	0.27	149	Slovakia	0.05	199	Greenland	0.00
50	Romania	2.07	100	Zimbabwe	0.24	150	Somalia	0.05	200	Serbia	0.00

LPG Prices

Sometimes there are not enough providers around or consumers lacks information to freely choose a provider. As a consequence, LPG uses to be a supplier-driven-prices market and the consequence is overcost and delivery inefficiency.

To address this market deficiency, in some countries, governments establish maximum prices. Despite this politic benefits consumers, at the short term, it puts out of the market small retailers, market competence gets damaged and quality of service gets overall degraded, occasionally to the shortage level.

Ecosystem

Filling Plant

LPG Filling Plant is a system which can be used either automatically or manually to refill LPG Cylinders.

Inefficiencies to be addressed:

• Inventory management is done manually and offline
• Risk of running out of cylinder stock
• Wasted man hours
• Lost cylinders

Retailers

Mission:

Inefficiencies to be addressed:

• Lack of cylinder data
• Illegal cylinder filling
• Inefficient milk-runs
• Lack of customer data

Shops

Mission:

Inefficiencies to be addressed:

• Shops have maintenance Costs
• Shops have compliance burden

Logistics

Mission:

Inefficiencies to be addressed:

• Cylinders are lost within the value chain
• Need to buy cylinder replacements
• Retailer staff is not well paid and respected
• Compliance Burden

Independents

Mission:

Inefficiencies to be addressed:

• Independents have difficulty to get customers
• Independents have inability to market their services
• Independents have compliance burden

Consumers

Mission:

Inefficiencies to be addressed:

• Consumers afraid of running out of gas
• Consumers lack market information
• Consumers can not easily change supplier
• Consumers pay overcosts
• Consumers cannot organize delayed deliveries
• Consumers cannot benefit from pre-ordering
• Consumers cannot plan financially
• Consumers may have shortages or lack of coverage
• Consumers do not have a complain procedure

The BioGas Transition