PetrosNiaga: No truth to RM40 charge per LPG cylinder as alleged

KUCHING (Dec 8): PetrosNiaga Sdn Bhd has dismissed a claim that there is an RM40 charge per cylinder exchange for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sub-dealers.

The company said in a statement there is no additional cost when exchanging other LPG cylinders to PetrosNiaga cylinders aside from the refill cost.

“The allegation of RM40 charge per cylinder exchange to sub-dealers is not a practice supported by PetrosNiaga.

“The company encourages sub-dealers, who may face such a situation, to directly contact PetrosNiaga’s Customer Service at 1300-882-122 so that the necessary actions can be taken,” PetrosNiaga said.

As the sole supplier of subsidised LPG in Sarawak, PetrosNiaga, the retail LPG arm for Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros), pledged there is sufficient supply of 14kg subsidised LPG cylinders to meet customer demand.

PetrosNiaga also assured the public that it has actively engaged with all relevant stakeholders to ensure a smooth market transition with no supply disruption.

It said as an important stakeholder, to date, most of the affected dealers have joined PetrosNiaga’s strong statewide network of 65 dealers and 280 sub-dealers.

“This demonstrates our commitment to promoting local participation, while ensuring a reliable supply of subsidised LPG to household customers,” said PetrosNiaga.

The company also assured customers that it can carry out one-to-one cylinder exchange through its strong dealership network.

PetrosNiaga said it is also planning to upgrade storage capacity at its facilities as well as to enhance logistics management.

These planned investments demonstrate Petros’ long-term commitment to better serve Sarawak’s customers, said PetrosNiaga.

At a press conference on Wednesday, MyGaz Sdn Bhd (MyGaz) dealers and distributors, represented by Aaron Chuo, had said it would be unfair of Petros to make dealers pay RM40 per cylinder and that there had not been an official letter on the matter.

“Based on my understanding of this, the public can exchange one yellow gas cylinder to a red one but they (PetrosNiaga) never mentioned if customers have more than one gas cylinder, such as five, would they be able to exchange for five red gas cylinders?” he questioned.

He claimed MyGaz dealers had been approached by sales managers from Petros when the news broke of Petros’ monopoly to distribute LPG statewide.

“They told us that we can exchange our yellow gas cylinders, but we would have to pay a premium dealer price of RM40 per cylinder.

“This is obviously against what was published in the newspapers where the statement said that there would be no additional charges when switching to Petros LPG cylinders,” he claimed.

MyGaz is the Malaysian subsidiary of Thailand’s Siamgas and Petrochemical Co Ltd.

It began operating the LPG business in Malaysia following the acquisition of Shell LPG from Shell Timor Sdn Bhd in 2013.