Gas gamble
• Cops swoop down on suspected unauthorised site • Illicit trade sparks safety concerns with customers in the dark
Published:Sunday | January 14, 2024 | 12:09 AMCorey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter
To access this article in full please login or register today
The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trade is being plagued by skulduggery as unscrupulous competitors either steal each other’s cylinders, taking them out of the trade, or fill their rivals’ cylinders with their own products. The practice is...
The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trade is being plagued by skulduggery as unscrupulous competitors either steal each other’s cylinders, taking them out of the trade, or fill their rivals’ cylinders with their own products.
The practice is deceitful, criminal, and potentially deadly, especially for consumers, who are left with no way of knowing the quantity or quality of the gas sold to them. Neither are they fully aware of the dangers of fumes escaping from illegal filling stations – some of which have been found in residential communities with little or no adherence to safety protocols.
With lingering memories of an explosion at an illegal gas plant on Jacques Road in east Kingston that left three people dead in October 2016, the police last week swooped down on a location in Christian Pen in Portmore, St Catherine, where they seized hundreds of cooking gas cylinders belonging to various marketing companies.
Most affected were IGL (with some 200 cylinders) and GasPro (with about 150) – both companies individually operated but under Massy Gas Products.
Several cylinders belonging to the Yaadman LPG, Petcom, and Fesco were also removed from the premises, sleuths said, noting that late into Friday evening, they were still trying to locate the owner of the premises.
At the bare minimum, the property owner could face charges of breaches of the Trademark Act. The person could also be charged with dealing in or selling petroleum without a licence, and operating a petroleum filling station without a licence.
“There is still no documentation to prove that it is a legitimate distributor or that they are licensed to operate in this area. We have not made contact with the owner, but the investigation continues and persons will be interviewed,” said Superintendent Hopton Nicholson, head of operations for the St Catherine South Police Division.
Byron Henry, group security manager at Massy Gas, argued that there needs to be policy intervention to deal with the underhandedness in the sector, which not only affects revenue, but also jeopardises the quality of the product the customer is afforded.
Last week, The Sunday Gleaner was asked to direct questions on the matter to Brian Richardson, chief technical director in charge of energy at the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport. Up to press time, a request for an interview had not been granted.
“Our cylinders are one of the most favoured cylinders so people try to use them as much as possible. So they (illegal operators) take our cylinders, fill them, and then sell them back to the dealers, some of the legitimate ones,” explained Henry, adding that the cylinders are resealed, so unsuspecting customers will not know the difference.
Rogue establishments
“So if we were supposed to sell 10 gas; we only end up selling five, for argument’s sake, because other people are selling gas in our cylinders,” continued Henry, noting that at least four rogue establishments were found doing this last year. He believes that in that time, both IGL and GasPro would have lost millions in the illicit trade.
Henry explained that a dealer could have, for example, 200 empty IGL cylinders that have been returned by customers. In a bid to cut costs, he may order 100 replacements from a legitimate IGL marketing company and solicit the rest from illegal filling stations at a lower cost. He said even some legitimate dealers engage in the practice.
The Sunday Gleaner understands that Yaadman (red cylinders) and Regency Petroleum Limited (green cylinders) have filling stations in St Elizabeth; GasPro (grey and red cylinders) has a filling station in Rockfort, St Andrew, with other satellite outlets; IGL (blue cylinders) has a filling station on Spanish Town Road in St Andrew; and Petcom (yellow and white cylinders) has a filling station on Spanish Town Road in St Andrew.
None of the marketing companies had any affiliation with the location detected in Portmore, St Catherine, last week. How their cylinders ended up on that property is unknown, representatives said.
Overseen by dons
There were no homes particularly close to that Christian Pen location; however, the police have swooped down on illegal operations in populated areas of Trelawny; St Ann; St James, where some operations were reportedly overseen by dons; and in various parts of the Corporate Area, where investigators suspect the operations are most rife. Several players have been arrested in recent years.
A source close to the industry explained that LPG cooking gas is a mixture of propane and butane, and “any guy can buy the two gasses and mix any foolishness and give to you, the customer. Both have different burning characteristics, and if not mixed appropriately, can result in less-than-satisfactory service to the customer.
“So you will buy a cylinder of gas and within two weeks the gas is finished and you blame IGL or Petcom or whomever that their gas is not good, but the fact of the matter is that the gas is coming from one of those illegal filling stations and not from the marketing company.”
Additionally, there may be hazardous vapours emitted from these illegal stations, which, over time, may cause problems, the source explained, noting that in many instances, safety protocols are seldom followed, leading to catastrophe.
In the 2016 Jacques Road incident, which claimed the lives of Sanjay Williams, 14; Aundre Dennis, 15; and Everett Austin, 48, firefighters determined that a compressor being used to convert and transfer liquefied petroleum gas from one of two 1,000-gallon tanks housed in a truck had ignited, causing the explosion. In addition to the loss of lives and injuries to surviving victims, the authorities estimated damage to surrounding properties at $38 million.
“It is something that the Government takes seriously, and we are going to ensure that we put a stop to all these illegal activities. I want to encourage persons who know of these illegal activities taking place in their communities to report it,” said Dr Andrew Wheatley, then minister of science, energy, and technology.
Last week, Yaadman founder Miguel Smith argued that the same Portmore location was recently shut down after being detected, but that in a matter of weeks, it was up and running again.
“It keeps on happening over and over. The game is about trading cylinders. These are legitimate Yaadman cylinders that were found, but where they come from is what we are trying to find out now because each cylinder has a serial number, which is registered to who it went to. So we want to know where it escaped from,” he said, noting that the illegal players have access to seals resembling those used by the various marketing companies.
“This operation is not a small man thing. This is a billion-dollar business. The gas is the cheapest part, but purchasing cylinders is the most expensive part of the business because if you don’t have the cylinders, you can’t sell gas; and the cylinders belong to the companies,” he said. “That person doesn’t want to invest in cylinders so they just take a few from the other gas companies and use those. What is the cost to them? Nothing. And of course, these marketing companies already have a name that customers know.”