The Misrata-based state Libyan Iron and Steel Company (LISCO) revealed today that its new factory for the production of domestic gas cylinders will go into operation ‘‘by the end of this year’’.
It will be recalled, as revealed by Libya Herald, that LISCO had revealed in August this year that it would start manufacturing domestic gas cylinders ‘‘in January or February of 2025’’.
The news had been revealed as a side comment by LISCO chairman Mohamed Al-Faqih during his presentation at the 29 August’s Tripoli workshop on ‘‘Libyan Industrial Exports – Reality and Prospects’’ organised by the Libya Industry Union (LIU) and the Libyan Experts Forum (LEF).
The new date for the start of the new gas cylinder factory came out of a LISCO meeting today ‘‘in preparation for the actual start of the operational trials of the gas cylinder plant” LISCO reported. The meeting included members of the joint committee between LISCO and the Military Industrialization Authority.
Localising manufacturing – utilising old Qaddafi-era mothballed factories
The surprising inclusion of the Military Industrialization Authority comes as part of the wider Tripoli based Libyan government’s efforts to increase local manufacturing. This is mainly aimed at increasing local manufacturing of the needs of the oil and gas sector in order to reduce imports using valuable hard currency resources through the Committee for Localising Oil Fields Equipment (CLOFE).
LISCO said that today’s meeting discussed a number of points, the most important of which are the identifications of labour needs, the provision of raw materials and consumables, the supply of spare parts and cylinder heads – in full coordination with and in accordance with the technical specifications approved by Brega Marketing Company. Brega is the NOC’s subsidiary in charge of importing, filling and distributing gas cylinders.
LISCO said the project is part of its investments, being built based on its products, and is planned to officially start operation by the end of this year.
The cylinders’ subsidy problem
Libya suffers from a shortage of domestic gas cylinders. The state provider, Brega, does not make enough available on the market at the official subsidised price. Today, their black market price varies from LD 600 to LD 1,000, depending on if you are in coastal or regional Libya.
The problem is the scrap value of the subsidised cylinders is worth more than their value as a working gas cylinder. They are often illegally exported or smuggled to neighbouring countries to be used as raw material scrap metal.
Brega has ‘‘threatened’’ to introduce plastic gas cylinders instead several times over the last decade or more – but it has never succeeded beyond distributing a handful of sample cylinders.
LISCO to start manufacturing domestic gas cylinders at the start of 2025 (libyaherald.com)
