By April Lanux

The death toll from a gasoline tanker explosion in north-central Nigeria has risen to 86, the country’s emergency response agency said on Sunday.

The blast happened in the early hours of Saturday near the Suleja area of Niger state after individuals attempted to transfer gasoline from a crashed oil tanker into another truck using a generator.

The fuel transfer sparked the explosion, resulting in the deaths of those transferring the gasoline and bystanders. In an update, Hussaini Isah of the National Emergency Management Agency told the Associated Press that an additional 55 people were injured and are receiving treatment at three different hospitals in the Suleja area.

“There were people that were burnt to ashes. How can we get that figure?” The official said, indicating that the death toll might be higher than 86. “We won’t know the exact figure without forensics.”

The blast claimed so many victims because a crowd had gathered at the scene, including people taking pictures, bystanders, and others attempting to scoop gasoline, Isah said.

Gasoline prices in Africa’s most populous country has soared after the administration of President Bola Tinubu removed subsides on the product more than a year ago in an attempt to channel the resources to more developmental purposes. However, the policy has caused untoward hardship.

Scooping gasoline from a fallen tanker is common in Nigeria as some people see that as an opportunity to get free product that they could either use or resell for a profit.

By Richard Thompson

Consumption of natural gas in the EU’s third-largest economy, Italy, dropped by 2.5% in 2024 to its lowest level in more than 15 years, power market manager GME said on Friday.

Demand fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, due to higher prices compared to the pre-energy crisis levels, the market manager said in a monthly newsletter.

Gas consumption in power generation fell by 1.6% last year from a year earlier, while residential consumption and the industry saw slight increases in consumption, up by 1.8% and 1.3%, respectively.

As a result of lower demand, Italy’s natural gas imports fell to the lowest level since 2015, with reduced imports both via pipeline and LNG, according to the data.

Europe remains vulnerable to possible shocks in natural gas supply as its exposure to LNG trading and supply has grown, Stefano Venier, CEO of one of Europe’s biggest gas grid operators, Italy’s Snam, said at the end of last year.

Early this year, Italy called for a much lower EU cap on natural gas prices.

The EU needs to extend the cap on natural gas prices but set the cap at a much lower level, to avoid fresh shocks in energy bills, Italian Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told a local radio station in early January.

The European Union set at the start of 2023 an emergency cap on natural gas prices. This cap expires at the end of January 2025.

The cap on gas prices, the so-called “market correction mechanism,” will be triggered if the month-ahead price on the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), Europe’s key benchmark, exceeds $185 (180 euros) per MWh for three working days, and the month-ahead TTF price is $36 (35 euros) higher than a reference price for LNG on global markets for the same three working days.

According to the Italian minister, the cap on natural gas prices needs to be lowered to $51-$62 (50-60 euros) per MWh.