CNG experts advise cylinder standard check

If your vehicle was converted to CNG more than five years ago then you must check the standard of cylinder or else your vehicle and life could be at risk, CNG sector experts told Profit on Thursday. They said though the life of cylinder is more than 10 years but to be on the safer side, it is necessary that consumers should check the standard of cylinder. The country has witnessed a number of cylinder blasts in public transport due to sub-standard cylinders and around six people lost their lives in these incidents. According to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) standards for CNG cylinders, the minimum pressure for CNG cylinder is 200 bars or 2,900 PSI and any cylinder, which is manufactured below this standard, is dangerous for filling CNG. Unfortunately, there has been no check by the authorities concerned to regulate CNG cylinders.
People associated with CNG sector said consumers should check the quality of cylinders to avoid any untoward incident. Similarly, any cylinder whose age is more than five years should be checked for quality. “I am not saying that every cylinder more than five years is dangerous but at least the consumers should check its quality,” said a CNG station owner Muhammad Siddique adding its not hard task to check the quality of cylinder. “The consumer just visit any CNG station and check the quality by paying a nominal amount Rs300-500,” he added.
All Pakistan CNG Association Senior Vice Chairman Central Executive Committee Raja Muhammad Anwer said if consumers follow the standard then there is no danger in using CNG cylinder or kit. He said around the globe not even a single incident of CNG cylinder blast is witnessed but unfortunately regulatory authority in Pakistan is not checking standard of cylinders.“ Every Tom, Dick and Harry is manufacturing sub-standard cylinders and nobody is keeping any eye on such elements,” he said, adding that illiterate people don’t know specifications of cylinders and just try to install low-priced cylinders. “It was great astonishing that in many cases, oxygen gas cylinders were used for CNG filling,” he said adding CNG cylinder standard is 200 bars while oxygen gas cylinder is 20 bars. “One can easily imagine that what would be the result,” he said adding that the consumers should keep an eye on the leakage so that they could repair it. “There is nothing wrong in using CNG and some section of the media is trying to terrify people,” he lamented.
He said according to government rules only CNG stations having licenses are authorised to install CNG kit but no one is implementing this rule and resolutely lives of people are at risk. “Why OGRA is not taking action against people who don’t have the licenses but even then installing kits,” he said adding public transport is using sub-standard cylinders and there is no check on such vehicles. “It is the responsibility of transport authority to check the public transport and issue or cancel the licenses of such vehicles,” he added.