Zulfikar Hamid, a marketing manager at Pertamina, said the company had seized 3-kilogram and 12-kilogram canisters.

Zulfikar said the operation had been launched following a number of explosions caused by leaking LPG. He said Pertamina had seized canisters that had not matched the Pertamina standard.

"We have been confiscating the illegal canisters for the sake of consumers because the tanks do not comply with standards," he said.

He said Pertamina's inspection officers had been able to tell standard tanks from illegal ones by their smell. Pertamina injects a substance into its gas that gives it an odor - a safety feature in case of a leak.

"After inspecting them, they found out that the tanks did not smell of gas. Tanks issued by Pertamina will surely smell of gas because *Pertamina* always sells canisters filled with gas," he said. Empty Pertamina canisters would retain the odor.

The illegal canisters, he continued, are identical to Pertamina-sanctioned canisters but have false registration numbers.

A day earlier, Pertamina announced that its kerosene to LPG conversion program would be temporarily suspended by the Upstream Oil and Gas Supervisory Agency.

"We have been told to temporarily stop the program at the end of May. We don't know yet when the program will resume," Zulfikar said.

He said BP Migas would need to come up with a new strategy for the program.

However, he did not deny suspicions that the halt was related to a recent outbreak of explosions caused by LPG.

As of the end of May, 23 explosions caused by leaking LPG had been reported in South Sulawesi this year, most of which occured in Makassar.

The blasts involved 3-kilogram and 12-kilogram canisters.

Zulfikar said Pertamina had investigated 15 cases and found that none of them were caused by canister malfunctions.

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