Several weeks needed to solve gas shortage

It would take several weeks to sort out the cooking gas shortage, Litro Gas Chairman, Thushara Jayasinghe told the media yesterday.

Jayasinghe said that they were currently issuing about 90,000 gas cylinders to the market a day.

“Earlier, we issued about 60,000 cylinders a day. The number has been increased by 33% to deal with the current situation. We had to recall cylinders and to adhere to a new standardisation process. So, there are some limitatations affecting our output.”

The Litro Chairman said the company had adequate stocks of gas. A ship with 3,700 tonnes of gas was anchored off the seas of Keralawalapitiya. Once testing was completed that could be unloaded and issued to the market, he said.

Jayasinghe said that in the past, only about 300 gas valves needed to be replaced daily. However, that number was close to 3000 now, he said. The company was now working around the clock to fill and distribute gas cylinders, he said,

Around 900 cooking gas explosions have been recorded in Sri Lanka since October 2021.

Chairman of Laugfs Gas W. K. H. Wegapitiya said that his company found it difficult to obtain the required amounts of gas as banks were reluctant to issue letters of credit.