TBILISI, September 17 – Demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is booming in Georgia, but safety controls are not keeping pace, industry officials warn.
Vakhtang Iobashvili, head of the Union of Petroleum Importers, told BPN that while LNG use is spreading rapidly across Europe and Georgia, the sector is “practically uncontrolled.” He said there are no systematic checks on LNG trucks, transit shipments, or domestic consumption, a major safety risk given the fuel’s flammable nature.
“LNG is becoming highly demanded, not only here but across Europe,” Iobashvili said. “Ships cannot enter European ports with fuel oil or diesel anymore. Passenger transport and cars are switching to LNG. In Turkey, 85 percent of cars run on it. Consumption is also growing fast in Georgia.”
But oversight has not kept up. Technical inspection once covered gas systems, but Iobashvili says that is no longer happening. Instead, he argues, the country relies on general vehicle inspections while ignoring specialized monitoring.
Georgia has already seen accidents linked to gas storage. A recent blast in Mukhiani, a Tbilisi district, was just the latest in a series of explosions. Iobashvili also pointed to the dangers of old gas cylinders still in use in villages and factories. Many date back to the 1970s, with no new cylinders produced since 1976. “Imagine what kind of bombs these rotten cylinders are,” he warned.
