The Superintendency of Home Public Services (Superservicios) held the third Regional Technical Table on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Medellín, where the situation of the provision of this service in Antioquia, the department with the highest consumption nationwide, was reviewed.
This table, led by Superservicios through the Gas Technical Directorate, seeks to identify in the territory the main challenges faced by the service at the national level. “At Superservicios and the LPG Committee we have been identifying different illegal and informal behaviors that alert us to the need to emphasize inspection, surveillance and control actions in the sector.
With this exercise, we hope to strengthen the support of the National Police and other local and regional authorities to combat these behaviors that ultimately affect users,” said Eliana Bohórquez, Technical Director of Gas Management.
The coordinator of the LPG Group in Superservicios cylinders, Norma Orozco, participated in the event; Nancy Niño from Gasnova, and Diego Sendoya from Agremgas; as well as representatives of the National Police and other government authorities, of the mayors of Medellín, Santuario, Caldas and Segovia, of the Government of Antioquia and control members representing the users.
The attendees discussed the problems they face in the department such as the lack of training or tools of those involved in the service for the adequate provision of LPG, cylinder transportation, product traceability and regulations for distribution activity.
At the end of the table, some possible solutions were proposed that will be evaluated by the LPG Safety Committee to seek improvement actions.
In the second semester, two technical tables will be held in the municipalities of Popayán (Cauca) and Yumbo (Valle del Cauca), which occupies third place in LPG consumption in the country.
Panorama of LPG provision in Antioquia
• Ten companies provide LPG service in Antioquia, among those monitored by Superservicios such as Colgas, Inversiones GLP, Chilco and Montagas, which serve approximately 705 thousand homes.
• Users from the city of Medellín and the municipalities of Bello, Rionegro, La Ceja, Apartadó and Caucasia are the ones who use this service the most in the department.
• Among the main illegal behaviors identified by Superservicios are: repainting or rebranding cylinders, marketing of non-proprietary and universal cylinders, illegal deposits, illegal marketing of LPG in bulk and sale to informal parties, presence of establishments that do not comply with the requirements of the technical regulations.
• Among the irregular behaviors they face are: lack of formalization before Superservicios, marketing through retailers that are not legally established, practice of swindling, product smuggling and
LPG cylinders, among others.
• This service is used by 3.5 million Colombian households, especially in remote territories, with greater social and economic needs.
About the LPG Safety Committee (CSGLP) The Committee was created by Law 689 of 2001. It is made up of the Superservicios, Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (CREG), Superintendency of Industry and Commerce, Icontec, Ecopetrol; The LPG associations also take part: Gasnova and Agremgas as a guest, and cylinder manufacturers: Metalgas and Cilgas. Likewise, it has the participation
of the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office.
