Just over a year since its acquisition by Trinidadian behemoth Massy Holdings Limited, local gas distributor Industrial Gases Limited (IGL) is in the process of launching a few new products for the local market while looking for export opportunities in nearshore markets.

CEO of Massy Gas Pro Jamaica Limited Peter Graham – who heads both IGL and GasPro – informed Our Today last week that the company is preparing for an export delivery in the coming weeks.

“We’re doing new things because in a few weeks, we produce acetylene in Ferry (at the IGL plant) and we’re getting ready now to start exporting acetylene to another country in the Caribbean,” he stated.

Acetylene is used for welding.

Though tight-lipped on the destination of the shipment, Graham said he will disclose such information nearer to the day of dispatch.

In the meantime, IGL is now in the final stages of increasing its capacity to produce oxygen at its Ferry plant.

In March 2022, IGL commissioned a then-new oxygen pressure swing absorption (PSA) plant at Ferry, St Catherine. The company began the construction of the plant in 2018 for US$10 million or over $150 million in local currency, and added 40 per cent to its production capacity upon completion.

“So we had a liquid plant from 2018 and we added a gas plant. Now, the gas plant has some issues that we have finally resolved, so it’s a good time to have this gas plant starting up about now,” Graham said.

“And what that gas plant will do is to ensure we adequately meet all the demand in Jamaica and start exporting. So, for example, Haiti badly needs oxygen and they are looking to us to supply,” he continued.

Despite the delays with the plant, the CEO projects that within the next six months to a year IGL will join its sister company in exporting its gases within the region and beyond.

Known mainly for its distribution of liquid petroleum gas used for cooking and industrial medical gases, IGL also distributes helium and nitrous oxide in its blue cylinders. In addition, it supplies Jamaica’s bauxite refineries with nitrogen used to make alumina.

IGL is also facing challenges with the commissioning of its carbon dioxide (CO2) plant.

“On the CO2 side…our plant has its challenges – and not the plant itself so much but the engines that we need the raw gas from,” Graham outlined.

The CO2 production is generated from the company’s use of liquefied natural gas to power its plant.

“The exhaust from the engine is carried into the atmosphere and we capture than and convert it to food-grade CO2 that Pepsi and Coca-Cola use,” the CEO revealed to Our Today.

He added that CO2 is also used in the form of dry ice or fire-extinguishing material. For the latter purpose, he said that Caribbean Cement Company Limited is IGL’s largest consumer.

Graham said that the company is now researching how carbon dioxide can be used in agriculture.

“So we’re seeing some new revenue streams that could potentially materialize,” he added.

Looking at innovation, the company has introduced a device to monitor liquefied petroleum gas in its cylinders. He noted that too often Jamaicans joke about cooking gas finishing on a Sunday or a holiday, so it was pertinent to be informed and ake advanced plans.

In December 2022, Massy Gas Products Limited announced its bid to acquire 100 per cent interest in IGL for US$140 million. By August of the following year, IGL had completed the takeover.

Since then, IGL has carried on with its respective branding but has integrated into the Massy Gas Pro portfolio at the “back end”.

According to Graham, while the two companies will maintain independent branding under IGL and GasPro, with separate teams for brand management and commercial purposes, both entities are sharing departments such as procurement and logistics, human resources, and information technology.

“So, it is quite normal for one corporate entity to manage multiple brands and we have joined that group now. So, you have Massy Gas Products Jamaica and we have two brands: the IGL brand, the blue cylinder; and the Gaspro brand, the blue and red,” he stated.

“To the customers, we will have separate commercial teams, separate brand managers and separate sales teams,” Graham continued.

That integration process has resulted in greater efficiencies for both GasPro and IGL and the realisation of cost-savings.

As a result both companies are now more agile in responding to market demands, he stated.

“So we have seen some efficiencies since we collapsed the two into one,” Graham pointed out.

He explained further that the both companies have engaged in change management sessions to reach a consensus on common goals, vision and a common corporate culture.

Still, while Graham notes the challenge of integrating competitors of over 50 years, he believes that it is not impossible. In fact, he spent over six years at the helm of Massy Gas Products up to 2013, before being tapped to lead IGL’s Caribbean operations.

Graham was managing director of IGL Jamaica before Massy appointed him to lead its gas distribution portfolio.