Qatar Fuel (Woqod), the sole distributors of LPG cylinders in Qatar, has said it is going ahead with plans to phase out all metal cylinders from the market by June next year.
About 50 percent of the metal gas cylinders in the market have already been replaced by the lightweight Shafaf cylinders, Hejji Ghanim H A Al Rumaihi, Retail Manager at Woqod, said.
“We are continuing the implementation of our plan to phase out the metal cylinders. There were about 700,000 metal cylinders in circulation. The plan helped to phase out about 50 percent of them until now,” said Al Rumaihi in a recent programme on Qatar TV.
He said there are about 350,000 Shafaf cylinders in the market and more or less an equal number of metal cylinders.
The official said that safety and security were the main factors behind the decision to replace metal cylinders with the Shafaf. Shafaf cylinders are made of plastic. It is manufactured with the support of computer or robot. Shafaf meets all requirements of safety and security. It is safer than metal cylinders.
If the safety valve of a metal cylinder failed and caught fire, there would be a disaster. The cylinder might burst causing heavy loss and causalities, explained the official. But it is quite different with Shafaf. If its safety valve fails, the body structure of Shafaf begins working as a safety mechanism. With increasing temperature inside the cylinder, the gas starts leaking through its body and gets burned gradually.
The Civil Defence personnel conducted tests to check safety of cylinders. The tests suggested that Shafaf cylinders are safer.
He thanked the Civil Defence for implementing a ban on the use of gas cylinders at eateries and other outlets inside fuel stations to ensure the safety of visitors.
