NAIROBI, KENYA: Large companies selling cooking and industrial gas in the country say they are not fighting their small and medium sized rivals but rather the illegal trade in gas that they say has reached alarming proportions.
Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PEIA) said its members are fighting against illegal operators as opposed to small establishments.
"The actual contention is between innocent LPG consumers, big legitimate, medium and small gas dealers on one side against illegal and unlicensed LPG dealers on the other," Wanjiku Manyara general manager PIEA said in a statement released Monday.
Major oil marketers have in the recent past put up a spirited fight against what they said were illegal refilling plants for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). They have estimated that as much as 80 per cent of the local LPG market is illegal and raised concerns about the safety of the users.
The war against illegal LPG trade seen as the large companies – mostly made of multinationals – fighting the small and mid-sized companies in a bid to protect a market they have always controlled but whose grip they appear to be losing.
The war has been tied to an ongoing court case, where nine companies want the court to stop the Government from destroying their refilling plants.
Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has been planning to bring down the plants claiming the firms have not met the legal requirements and have not been issued with licences and thus their operations are illegal.
According to PIEA the companies being referred to have not been operating their LPG businesses within the laid down legal and regulatory requirements for the 10 years they have operated.
"Indeed, they admit that they are yet to comply with ERC requirements which means that they are operating without licences against the law," it added in the statement. The nine firms moved to court last month and successfully sought an order barring the Government from destroying their plants.
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