Over the past two weeks, recurring explosions of butane gas canisters have rendered residents in several governorates on edge, writes Reem Leila More than 800 butane gas canisters have exploded in recent days across the country; 300 in the village of Temwah in Giza and 500 in Menyet Samanud, Daqahliya governorate. Other explosions which rocked several homes elsewhere are added to this figure. The drop in the butane gas market has given rise to a flourishing black market which puts a price tag of LE10 or LE18 on the canister which once cost LE3. But of greater concern, are the causes behind the violent and dangerous explosions which have caused several fatalities. For many residential areas, butane gas is the only source of energy for cooking and heating water. Although, Petroleum Gas Company (Petrogas), the largest producer of butane gas cylinders, turns out one million canisters per day and production by other private companies is estimated at approximately 200,000 cylinders per day, the market continues to suffer a butane gas shortage. Petrogas Chairman Maged Farag promised to increase production by nine per cent to face the shortage, although he believes "it's a matter of monopoly and poor distribution by butane gas vendors who are trying to foster a black market to increase their profits." This in turn means that the state subsidy of butane gas, estimated at LE1 billion annually, "does not go to those who deserve it," Farag told Al-Ahram Weekly. He does not believe that the price hike is due to a real shortage since many houses and factories already use natural gas. Figures show that the natural gas network only covers around 16 per cent of energy consumption, with ten per cent in Cairo and six per cent in Alexandria. According to official figures, there are 40 million butane gas cylinders, but 80 per cent of these are well beyond their expiration date. "Some 32 million of these have expired," admits Farag. "They have been in circulation for almost 40 years, despite the fact that a cylinder's life expectancy ranges from 10 to 15 years." After this period, canisters must be disposed of or else they become "moving bombs," he warned. Farag further disclosed that the materials used in manufacturing gas canisters do not meet international standards, hence their validity date expires sooner. Unfortunately, there is no national agency to monitor either the production or the filling of these cylinders. Making matters worse, there are two million YSF-5 gas cylinder regulators from China on the market which do not meet either national or international standards. According to Mohamed Muawad, member of the National Specialised Councils and regional deputy head of the Institute of Civil Defence and Disaster Studies in the UK, the butane gas factories are substandard. Muawad noted that the factories charged with repairing, filling and refilling gas canisters do even possess the air pressure devices needed to identify gas leaks. Leakage is only detected once the regulator is turned on "which is very dangerous," stressed Muawad. He believes that the situation is exacerbated further because only 5,000 regulators have been recovered, and 83 per cent of butane gas cylinders are filled by private companies which are not subject to any monitoring. "How are we going to protect people from the remaining 1,600,000 regulators which nobody knows where they are?" wondered a dismayed Muawad. As soon as butane gas cylinders began exploding left, right and centre, Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy created a supreme committee to investigate the problem and stand on the causes of these incidents. According to Abdel-Aleem Taha, head of the Petroleum Association, the ministry will purchase two million new butane cylinders this year to replace the expired ones. "While efforts continue to recover the defective Chinese regulators, the ministry has ordered all private and public filling and refilling companies to only use regulators produced at military factories since they are considered the best," revealed Taha. In the coming few months, the ministry will also a create a database of each gas cylinder, its manufacturer, weight, price and location where it was filled or refilled. A label on the canister will include all this information to enable authorities to monitor the process and prevent violations. Pressed to say whether Egypt's production of natural gas would provide a permanent solution to this long-standing problem, Farag explained that it would cost billions of pounds to extend natural gas pipelines to cover the entire country. "A more practical solution is to reorganise the already established system in a way that would exclude middlemen between the main producers and the end users of butane gas," he suggested.
