Customers line up to refill their gas cylinders. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Energy Minister Walid Fayad announced in a press release Monday evening the launch of the last phase of replacement of old gas cylinders for domestic use. The operation, which officially starts on Tuesday morning, includes the replacement of 800,000 old gas cylinders with new ones out of an estimated total of 4 million cylinders, 80 percent of which have already been replaced.
Here’s what we know:
• The process had been ongoing since 2015 before being suspended in 2021, due to the sharp depreciation of the Lebanese lira against the dollar on the parallel market and subsequently the rise in the price of metals used in the manufacture of the cylinders.
• On Jan. 18, the head of the union of gas workers and distributors in Lebanon, Farid Zeinoun, urged the Energy Ministry to “immediately” replace the old gas cylinders with new ones, highlighting the safety risks associated with using old cylinders and describing them as a “ticking time bomb.”
• The resumption of the replacement operation had also been demanded by the union of gas cylinder distributors, which is headed by Jean Hatem.