Istanbul Gas Cylinder Manufacturing Plc of Turkey is going to start distributing liquid petroleum gas (LPG) as of next week. The company is a joint venture with TIRET, the Amhara Endowment Fund.

Istanbul Gas has taken a one hectare plot of land out of 130 owned by TIRET in Sheno, Ahmara Regional State, for filling cylinders with LPG.

Istanbul Gas has already imported 22,000 tonnes of gas from Sudan and four depots through which 6,000 cylinders will be filled, Nuzet Erdogan, owner and general manager of the company, said.

Istanbul Gas is the fifth company to provide LPG locally along with National Oil Company, Total Ethiopia, Ghion Gas Plc and Nile Petroleum.

The manager said that the company would start manufacturing the LPG container in Ethiopia within six months. It’s currently installing the machineries need for manufacturing containers.   

LPG is now sold for 490 birr on the market. Istanbul Gas said that it would start distribution through two local agents in the Bole and Kolfe sub-cities in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia mostly imports LPG from Sudan, which produces 300,000 tonnes a year.

Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria are Africa’s major producers of liquid petroleum with production capacity of 650,160 tonnes, 495,360 tonnes and 1.5 million tonnes.

Source: Fortune