Gas supplies ‘very low’

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 1

Gas supplies ‘very low’

Supplies of liquefied petroleum gas were satisfying less than 1 per cent of Christchurch demand, said the South Island manager of Rockgas, Ltd (Mr R. J. Boyce) yesterday. Only intermittent supplies were arriving from the North Island, by air, and Rockgas had more than 70 “essential users” on its waiting list. Priority was being given to industries rather than the leisure market. Ships have not carried L.P.G for about two months, because of disputes which now involve the Seamen’s Union, which banned handling of the gas. Mr Boyce said Rockgas was asking consumers to contribute towards the expense of airfreighting

L.P.G. because this was adding between 25c and 30c a litre to the cost. A shortage of tankers to carry the gas had added to the problem. Earlier this month the Marine Division of the Ministry of Transport had banned the use of 16 of the 25 eight-tonne rail tankers owned by the Shell, BP, Todd consortium after welding defects had been discovered. Rockgas had been using its own tankers 24 hours a day but it had been unable to meet demand. The Christchurch manager of New Zealand Industrial Gases (Mr G. Ps Reidy) said that the coms pany had run out of L.P.G. supplies yesterday.