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「石油氣管道維修保養」
香港蜆殼有限公司營運經理
李偉民先生
演辭
Background
LPG : Important Source of
Energy
LPG has been an
important source of clean, non-toxic, efficient and versatile fuel
for the Hong Kong public during the past few decades. In the early
days, consumers are supplied by cylinder gas delivered to their
doorsteps by labours. Today, whilst one quarter of Hong Kong's
total domestic households still purchase cylinder gas, the newer
buildings constructed in the past 20 years or so are supplied by
piped LPG. Together, approximately 37% of households use LPG as
their domestic fuel.
Hong Kong is a very densely populated area; a very
high percentage of Hong Kong's 6 million population is concentrated
in a total area of less than 500 sq. miles. As such, the safety of
LPG has become a major concern for the public and legislators, as
well as the LPG industry with its never-ending endeavour to improve
safety.
The oil companies in Hong Kong have formed an LPG
Technical and Safety Committee, with a view to continuously monitor
and enhance safety in the industry. Shell chairs this Committee
with the mandate in leading the industry to achieve this
objective.
Sound Safety Record
While we follow all the appropriate guidelines in
the Gas Ordinance
(Cap. 51) and the Code of Practices, Shell has also implemented
a preventive maintenance system to ensure the piped LPG
installations are in sound conditions to deliver LPG to its
consumers.
Currently, Shell supplies approximately 90,000
families in 68 residential estates with piped LPG. Because of the
effective maintenance programme that we put in place we have not
experienced any major incidents in LPG risers.
Current Practice in
Shell
In most of our supply contracts Shell will finance
the initial installation costs and assume ownership of the pipeline
systems during the contract period. The cost of maintaining the gas
risers is borne by Shell at no extra cost to our customers. Apart
from organising an annual inspection by competent persons
recognised by the Gas Standards Office, Shell also arrange, at its
own cost and initiative, periodic inspections conducted by
competent contractors and fitters on all of its domestic piped LPG
installations, to check the conditions and functions of various
equipment including the gas risers. All inspection records are
centrally managed by Shell Engineers. All needs of repair are met
promptly and at Shell's cost.
The kind of inspections on gas risers
include:
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Preventive
maintenance: conducted twice per year on all sites by
appointed competent contractors ;
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on-going
inspections: fitters of Shell's dealers have the
obligation of performing continuous monitoring of the conditions of
the gas risers. Any observations of deterioration in conditions are
relayed to Shell immediately for further
investigation.
In addition
to this, Shell operates a 24-Hour Emergency Reporting Centre to
response to emergencies. A team of trained fitters can be mobilised
efficiently for this purpose.
Consumer Value
We believe that consumers would benefit most by
this approach of maintaining the risers by the gas supplier.
Potential risks to consumers caused by insufficient maintenance,
which in turn may be caused by lack of co-ordination or consumers'
unwillingness to contribute financially, could be largely
reduced.
Looking Ahead
The LPG market in Hong
Kong is currently in a declining stage. While the piped LPG
business is more or less stagnant, the cylinder gas market is
shrinking at an average annual rate of 1.5%. As the market leader
Shell is totally committed to upholding the sound safety record in
the domestic piped LPG sector, whereby Hong Kong consumers will
continue to enjoy the convenience and cleanliness of this domestic
fuel which is the cheapest amongst all alternatives.
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