Cooking Gas for Generators, Tony Nwalia,
*Rush for Cooking Gas, price hike in Port Harcourt.
Okafor Ofiebor/ Port Harcourt
Petroleum Products expert and former Process Coordinator,Port Harcourt Refinery, Tony Nwalia, has cautioned that those who use cooking gas as alternative fuel to power their generators are exposed to danger of a gas explosion.
The Petroleum products expert warned users of cooking gas as alternative Petrol to power their generators to be very careful because of the danger of associated with using Liquid Natural Gas ,LPG and Compressed Natural Gas,CNG about is very risky and volatile nature.
“Those using Cooking Gas for the generators are advised to extend the hose very far from the generator because of their volatility. They should know that generators radiate so much heat and if they are very close to the cylinders they may explode and ignite fire”.
He said Gas Cylinders are designed for a particular temperature they can sustain because heat can attract explosion from the Cylinders. He said once the Cylinders’ temperature is above the normal temperature in can hold they will explode.
Nwalia also warned the hose used for cooking gas should is specifically designed for Cooking Gas and should not serve as same for to link generators because any there is a leakage on that hose can attract explosion and combustion.
The former Process Coordinator at the Port Harcourt Refinery, Tony Nwalia advised users of cooking gas as an alternative fuel to be aware of the danger involved.
On the sudden increase in the price of Cooking Gas Nwalia also said that the sudden increase in the demand for cooking gas is partly to blame for the scarcity of the product.and price hike.
Our Correspondent reports there have been noticable long queues of Customers in Gas Plants across Port Harcourt and environs caped by the increase in the price of per Kilogramme.
Investigations show that some Gas retail outlets around Rumuodomaya, headquarters of Obio-Akpor local government area,the Ada George road, Rumuosi, and Obiri-Ikwerre all in Obio-Akpor Local Government area showd that some Gas depots do not have the product. Some of the Retailers blamed the hike in price on Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, two days warning strike that caused temporary hiccup in the supply chain, while others also blamed it on increase in Naira to USA Dollar rate.
A kilogramme formerly sold for N600 at a wholesale price has now risen to between N800 to N950.
Some Gas plants sold at N780 per kg, while retailers now sell at the rate between N900 to N1,000 per kg as against the former price of N750. A Retailer said that after buying the Gas from the loading plants, dealers had to added overhead costs to transport the trucks to their Gas plants.