Govt. says LP Gas shortage will be resolved within next 7-10 days

• CB comes forward to finance two LPP shipments for Litro Gas
• Laugfs Gas yet to secure LC facilities to normalise operations 

The government expects to end the LP Gas shortage within the next 7-10 days with Litro Gas gradually moving to meet the market demand after securing letter of credit (LC) facilities, while Laugfs Gas is yet to receive green light for its letter of credit facilities.

The Co-Cabinet Spokesperson and Plantation Minister Ramesh Pathirana yesterday announced that the government has taken measures to grant LC facilities for Litro Gas to secure two LPG shipments at the Port of Colombo with Central Bank coming on board to provide required US dollars to finance the shipments.

“Fortunately, LP Gas shortage is getting solved now. Litro Gas will be able to meet the current market demand within next 7-10 day and the existing LPG shortage will be resolved gradually,” he said.

Litro Gas has 80 percent share in the cooking gas market in Sri Lanka while Laugfs Gas has the balance. 

According to sources, Laugfs Gas is yet to receive any LC facilities and the company has been able to supply LP gas for only 10 percent of its customer base. 

However, a company official said that it is working on several initiatives to normalise its supplies by Sinahla and Tamil New Year. 

Due to supply disruptions, Minister Pathirana pointed out that the usual daily demand of 85,000-95,000 of LPG cylinders of Litro Gas has risen to levels exceeding its daily capacity of 100,000 cylinders.