ENG-1983 — Page 205

144

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

About 90 per cent of the total LPG sold is distributed through a dealer network in portable 15-kilogram cylinders. This is the most widely used form of gas supply in Hong Kong at present but as a result of recent government action to improve gas safety, all LPG supplied in future to new housing developments will be in the form of piped gas from bulk storage/vapor- iser installations. The proportion of LPG supplied from these bulk installations will therefore soon increase significantly from the present level of 10 per cent. Overall, sales of LPG are increasing by approximately 14 per cent per annum, mainly in the form of piped gas to meet new housing demands but also partly to replace kerosene in existing markets.

The Hong Kong and China Gas Company supplies Towngas to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and many towns in the New Territories. Supply is available throughout the urban areas - including Aberdeen, Ap Lei Chau, Repulse Bay and Stanley on Hong Kong Island, together with the industrial towns of Kwun Tong, Yau Tong, Sha Tin, Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan and neighbouring Tsing Yi Island in the New Territories.

Towngas production is centred at Ma Tau Kok-in Kowloon. Hong Kong Island is supplied by four submarine gas mains across the harbour and Tsing Yi is supplied by one gas main along the Tsing Yi Bridge. The New Territories north of Kowloon are supplied by a pipeline through the second Lion Rock Tunnel. A new 750 mm diameter pipeline through the old Beacon Hill Railway Tunnel has been commissioned.

Towngas is distributed at a heat value of 17.27 MJ/m3 and a specific gravity of approximately 0.56. Gas is sold on the basis of a megajoule. Towngas sales in 1983 amounted to 5.92 million gigajoules compared with 4.86 million in 1982. Consumption and distribution statistics are at Appendix 30.

Gas is produced in 10 cyclic naphtha reforming plants, with a total installed capacity of 2 293 748 cubic metres per day. Two more units of naphtha plants are under construction and when commissioned towards the end of 1984 will add 679 629 cubic metres per day to the installed capacity of the station. To meet peak demand there are five gasholders with a total capacity of 113 282 cubic metres.

Towngas sales are presently increasing at a rate in excess of 20 per cent per annum due mainly to the increased sales of piped Towngas to new and existing housing estates. To meet this growth and the expected future demand for piped gas, the company is planning to construct a major production station in the New Territories and this will be linked by a 58-kilometre transmission pipeline to Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and all the major towns in the New Territories.

}