Easygas yesterday would not accept a truckload of dark grey gas cylinders the Malta Resources Authority wanted to return to them after having been collected by rival company Liquigas.
This was the latest development in the ongoing battle over gas cylinder ownership.
Liquigas, which distributes yellow and green cylinders, tried to return the Easygas cylinders according to a legal notice issued last month laying down that gas cylinders belonged to the company that first places them on the market.
A truck carrying more than 200 cylinders was driven to the Easygas plant at Luqa but was not allowed in and was later seen driving away still loaded.
Easygas said the law governing the return and take-back of cylinders was not based on the principle of colour coding. “It lays down a procedure that must be respected and, this morning, it wasn’t.”
The cylinders were not accompanied by documents proving Easygas had put them on the market and some had no serial numbers, the company said.
Sources said Easygas feared accepting the cylinders would have contradicted the legal stand it adopted over the past months when it insisted that, once they were put on the market, the cylinders no longer belonged to the gas companies but to the consumers.
Accepting the cylinders would also have meant it would have been forced to release to Liquigas the thousands of yellow and green cylinders that it had bought from consumers in the past months, the sources added.
Liquigas said that the MRA had told it which cylinders were to be returned to Easygas. In fact, the words “property of Easygas” were on many of the cylinders.
“One would therefore assume that the certificates in question should be held by Easygas themselves,” Liquigas said. It is now seeking guidance from the regulator on where to deposit them.
Easygas is involved in a court battle with Liquigas on the gas cylinders and legal notice. It argues that the cylinders belong to the clients who pay the deposit for them and not to either company.
Liquigas has accused Easygas of hoarding a large number of its yellow cylinders and allegedly repainting them dark grey and removing their serial numbers.
The MRA refused to comment on the incident.