The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited,

trading as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Towngas, is the sole provider of territory-wide town gas in Hong Kong. Founded in 1862, it is one of the oldest listed companies in the territory.

History

In February 1862, the concession to supply gas to the city of

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(the centre of which now referred to as Central), was obtained from then governor Sir Hercules Robinson by William Glen, a newcomer to the gas industry. Incorporation took place on 3 June 1862 and, by 3 December 1864 that year, there were of pipes and 500 gas lamps along Queen's Road and Upper Valley Road. Across the

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

, residents in

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

continued to rely on candles and oil lamps until gas was laid on 28 years later. The company's original generating plant, the first in Asia, stood on the waterfront at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

near

Whitty Street Whitty Street is a street in Shek Tong Tsui, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Named after R.C. Whitty, the first manager of Hong Kong and China Gas Company, p. 248 the street is well known as one of seven terminals of the Hong Kong Tramways. Th ...

and provided gas for lighting to government offices and army barracks as well as Jardine's offices, the Hong Kong Dispensary and the

Hong Kong Hotel The Hongkong Hotel was Hong Kong's first luxury hotel modelled after sumptuous London hotels. It opened on Queen's Road and Pedder Street in 1868, later expanding into the Victoria Harbour waterfront of Victoria City in 1893. History The o ...

. The plant was coal fired and produced of gas per day. It was run directly from Britain until 1954 when a majority shareholding was purchased by local firm

Wheelock and Marden Company Limited Wheelock and similar may refer to: Firms and buildings * Cooper Wheelock, a manufacturer of fire alarm and general signaling products * Wheelock and Company, formerly British Hong Wheelock and Marden Company Limited * Wheelock College, a small li ...

who moved the company's registered domicile from the UK to Hong Kong. As of 2024, the four gas lamps installed by the company are situated at the top and bottom of a flight of broad granite steps linking

Ice House Street Ice House Street () is a one-way street in Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Named after the structure previously located on it that housed the city's only source of ice, it stretches from Lower Albert Road to Connaught Road. The st ...

and

Duddell Street Duddell Street (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 都爹利街) is a small street located near the Lan Kwai Fong district in Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong. Named after George and Frederick Duddell, it stretches from Ice House ...

. These are still maintained by Towngas, while the site is one of the

Declared monuments of Hong Kong Declared monuments of Hong Kong are places, structures or buildings legally declared to receive the highest level of protection. In Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a spec ...

Gas production and network

The company imports natural gas from Australia by sea and stores it at the Dapeng liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Shenzhen under a 25-year contract. A submarine pipeline connects the Dapeng terminal to Towngas' Tai Po plant. The Tai Po plant produces 97% of its town gas output while the remaining 3% is produced at the Ma Tau Kok plant. The two plants cover 1.8 million households via a network of more than of pipelines throughout Hong Kong. Treated gas from landfill sites is also utilised as fuel to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. In Hong Kong, town gas is produced from naphtha and natural gas. Its major components are hydrogen (49%), methane (28.5%), carbon dioxide (19.5%) and a small amount of carbon monoxide (3%). It supplies towngas to 85% Hong Kong households, and also to commercial and industrial customers. The group has over 500 projects in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

including city-gas, water supply, waste treatment, emerging environmentally-friendly energy and telecommunications.

Property development

The company also engages in property development projects. It has a 15% share in the International Finance Centre and 50% share in Grand Promenade, both in Hong Kong, as well as the Grand Waterfront. All are investments in conjunction with the company's largest shareholder.

Usurpation by ultimate parent

On 3 October 2007, Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd (HLD) proposed to pay market value only to gain control of Towngas. The 39.06 percent stake in Towngas held by subsidiary Henderson Investment was valued at HK$42.86 billion in cash and convertible notes for the purposes of the transaction. Minority shareholders of Henderson Investment, who together held 30.73%, would receive 204.1 million Henderson Land shares and HK$1.19 billion in cash. The offer was considered by analysts to be favourable to the company, though

shareholder activist Shareholder activism is a form of activism in which shareholders use equity stakes in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In co ...

David Webb criticised the deal saying Henderson was acquiring the stake on the cheap, without paying any

control premium A control premium is an amount that a buyer is sometimes willing to pay over the current market price of a publicly traded company in order to acquire a controlling share in that company. If the market perceives that a public company's profit and ...

to minority shareholders of Henderson Investment. Webb further criticised the nature of the offer as a back-door privatisation of Henderson Investment, which would virtually be a

shell company A shell corporation is a company or corporation with no significant assets or operations often formed to obtain financing before beginning business. Shell companies were primarily vehicles for lawfully hiding the identity of their beneficial ...

after the transfer of the stake. On 7 November, Henderson sweetened the offer to appease minority shareholders by increasing the cash portion to HK$2.24 per share. On 7 December 2007, Henderson secured shareholders' support for the usurpation. As of 31 December 2021, HLD was the company's largest shareholder, owning 41.53% of the issued shares of the company. Lee Ka Kit and Lee Ka Shing, chairmen of HLD, are also the chairmen of the company.

Exploration operations

Towngas in 2008 agreed to a joint venture with Sunpec and

Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group is a Chinese conglomerate mainly engaged in the exploration, production, transportation, and sale of petroleum and natural gas, and in addition the production and sales of petrochemical products. Founded in 1905, ...

to develop block 3113 in

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with technical assistance from Yunnan Kaiyuan Oil and Gas. The venture discovered light oil in November 2009. This block along with block 2104 has estimated oil reserves of 5.6 billion barrels and natural gas reserves of 66 billion cubic metres.

Accidents

On 14 May 1934, a huge explosion of a gasometer at the company's

plant killed 42, injured many more and gutted five buildings. On 11 April 2006, an explosion caused by leaking towngas in

Ngau Tau Kok Ngau Tau Kok () is an area of eastern Kowloon in Hong Kong, in the north of Kwun Tong District east to Kowloon Bay. Largely residential, Ngau Tau Kok has a population in excess of 210,000. Geography In Chinese, Ngau Tau Kok translates to ...

killed two people and injured nine more.

References

Notes

External links

*
Official websiteExplosion photos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hong Kong and China Gas Company Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Service companies of Hong Kong Energy companies established in 1862 Oil and gas companies of Hong Kong History of foreign trade in China Companies in the Hang Seng Index Companies in the S&P Asia 50 Henderson Land Development Telecommunications companies of Hong Kong 1862 establishments in Hong Kong