IN 1992, when Alfred Chan joined Hong Kong and China Gas (known as Towngas) as its first general manager of marketing, gas was not a sizzling business to be in.
In Hong Kong, the warm weather means gas bills are typically one-sixth of those in Britain, and an eighth of bills in the United States.
Gas was steadily losing out to electricity in the home and workplace, where consumer devices were placing ever-bigger demands on electricity and leaving gas looking increasingly old-fashioned.
Market growth had been assured through much of the 1970s and 1980s, as population growth fuelled massive home-building programmes.
Much of the growth was in the late 80s. From 600,000 customers in 1987, the customer base has grown to 1.2 million. But by the beginning of the 1990s, growth was beginning to slow.
Meanwhile, in homes where gas was installed, it was being used less and less. Rice cookers, microwave cookers, slow-cookers, toasters and waffle-makers were crowding in alongside the gas rings.
