Hong Kong and China Gas

The single supplier of town gas for the entire territory of Hong Kong is the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, doing business as Towngas. It is one of the region's oldest publicly traded enterprises and was founded in 1862.

William Glen, a newbie to the gas business, acquired the concession to deliver gas to the city of Victoria (whose hub is now known as Central) from the then governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, in February 1862. The city was incorporated on June 3, 1862, and by December 3, 1864, there were 500 gas lamps and 15 miles (24 km) of pipes along Queen's Road and Upper Valley Road. Until gas was installed in Kowloon 28 years later, inhabitants there relied on candles and oil lamps.

The first-generation facility of the corporation in Asia was located on the shoreline at West Point, close to Whitty Street [A], and it supplied illumination gas to government buildings, army barracks, Jardine's headquarters, the Hong Kong Dispensary, and the Hong Kong Hotel. A daily output of 120,000 cubic feet (3,400 m3) of gas was produced by the coal-fired facility. It was managed directly from Britain until 1954, when local business Wheelock and Marden Company Limited acquired a majority shareholding and changed the company's registered residence from the UK to Hong Kong.

Founded: Hong Kong
Headquarters: North Point, Hong Kong
Website: https://www.towngas.com/en/home