brand logo

Two Litro ships cleared; SLSI sets new gas standard

20 Dec 2021

  • Presidential committee on LPG clears two ships with LPG stocks
  • Other ship barred over insufficient odourant level
  • SLSI sets gas composition ratio for first time in SL
  • Ratio to be mentioned on cylinders from this week
  BY Pamodi Waravita Out of the three ships carrying new stocks of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to Litro Gas Lanka Ltd., two have been completely cleared for distribution, while the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) has determined that the propane-to-butane composition in LPG cylinders should be 30:70. This information was provided at a press conference held yesterday (20) at the President’s Media Division (PMD) about the LPG-related explosions that have been reported frequently around the country for over a month and a half. Technology Ministry Secretary and Presidential Committee appointed to investigate LPG-related incidents Co-ordinator Jayantha De Silva said yesterday that the other ship has not been permitted to unload its stocks as the ethyl mercaptan odourant level contained in such does not meet the required standard. “There was a discourse about the composition of gas and various claims were being made in this regard. We cannot go back in time. What we did was investigate the new stocks in the three ships that docked in Sri Lanka this month. We went and checked these stocks. We can assure that the propane ratio is not more than 30% in any of the LPG stocks in the three ships. Thus, there is no issue about the propane-to-butane composition in the new stocks. The other problem was about the odourant – ethyl mercaptan. Stocks in two of the ships have the required standard of ethyl mercaptan. However, one ship still does not meet this standard. We have allowed Litro Gas Lanka to distribute the stocks from the first two ships. However, the other is banned from distribution until it reaches our standard,” said De Silva. Last week, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) and the SLSI banned Litro Gas Lanka from distributing the new stocks due to the low ethyl mercaptan levels. However, Litro Gas Lanka officials told The Morning last week that the tests done by the CAA and the SLSI were on the vapour form of the LPG samples, and that in its liquid form, the odourant level reaches the correct standards. Last Friday (17), Litro Gas Lanka Chairman Theshara Jayasinghe told the media that the distribution of stocks from one ship had commenced. Meanwhile, last Friday, the Court of Appeal instructed Litro Gas Lanka and Laugfs Gas PLC to only distribute LPG cylinders which are in compliance with the regulations put forth by the SLSI. Senior State Counsel Manohara Jayasinghe, representing the CAA in the Court of Appeal last Thursday (16), when the hearing of the petition against Litro Gas Lanka was called for the third consecutive day, had said that the SLSI would hold a meeting yesterday to decide on what the gas composition (butane-to-propane ratio) of LPG cylinders should be. Commenting on this at yesterday’s press conference, Litro Chairman Theshara Jayasinghe said that the SLSI had determined last morning that the composition should be 30:70 (propane:butane) in LPG cylinders. “This is the first time in Sri Lanka that this standard has been set. All new stocks meet this standard and the public should not be fearful about this composition anymore. This composition will be printed and displayed clearly on all new LPG cylinders which are being distributed from this week,” said Jayasinghe. Allegations levelled against Litro Gas Lanka since earlier this year claim that the company changed the composition of gas to a dangerous 50:50 ratio. On 8 December, speaking in Parliament, Co-operative Services, Marketing Development, and Consumer Protection State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna said that lab tests conducted by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) on 12 samples of LPG obtained in November show a propane composition of about 47%, and said that he personally believes that this change in composition led to the LPG cylinder-based explosions which occurred over the past month. However, Jayasinghe said yesterday that there had been “no problem” in the gas composition in the last four months. “I have all the lab reports of the LPG stocks that arrived in the country since I became the Litro Gas Lanka Chairman in June 2021. We also investigated the propane composition. We even discussed with international partners about this as we were intent on finding out whether there was a problem in the composition. There was no problem in the composition, at least in the last four months. Even if there was a problem in the past, that is not relevant to the present day,” said Jayasinghe. Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Deshabandu Tennakoon, who was also present at the press conference, said that 847 gas-related incidents were reported this year while last year, 31 such incidents had been reported to the Police, Litro Gas Lanka, and Laugfs Gas. On 13 December, a woman succumbed to her injuries, following a week in hospital after a gas cylinder-based incident which occurred at her residence. Family members of the mother of four have blamed negligence by the authorities for the accident. Responding to this incident, Jayasinghe said that, as per the evidence Litro Gas Lanka officials had obtained from the scene of the incident, the regulator and the cooker were connected through a “steel connector used for bidets”. “We did not defend ourselves then as it was a sensitive moment, despite the harm to our brand,” he added. SDIG Tennakoon said that increased media attention about the LPG-related explosions this year has created a narrative that there are increased LPG-related explosions this year. “In 2020, 15,025 LPG-related repairs had been conducted in 44 police divisions. This year as well, the numbers are similar. In the previous years, it was not required to file a police complaint.” The Presidential Expert Committee appointed to investigate the recent LPG-related explosions, headed by University of Moratuwa Prof. Shantha Walpolage, handed over its final report to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday. In an initial media release earlier this month, Prof. Walpolage said that the committee had found that ethyl mercaptan was not present in the required levels in the gas samples they tested over the last month. He further said that investigations are still being carried out regarding claims about the change in the gas composition. Attempts by The Morning to contact Prof. Walpolage yesterday for details about the final report proved futile.


More News..