In a recent post, I shared the two ways to get gasoline in Venezuela. In this post, I'll tell you a little about obtaining cooking gas. In an oil-producing country, it should be simple, but in Venezuela, it becomes an ordeal.

I went to visit my grandmother and was surprised to find she was cooking on a single-burner electric stove, the kind that's very slow and breaks down quickly. I asked her about her gas stove, and she told me she hadn't had gas for two months. Her explanation is this: You can buy gas from a private company or through an option called "communal gas."

With private companies, it's a little simpler. You buy a cylinder. A 10 kg cylinder costs $50, and the refill is $5. A larger cylinder costs more. To refill, just take it to the store, and they only refill their branded cylinders (although sometimes there is no availability). Not all municipalities have private gas.

Typically, homes in residential areas have direct gas pipes. The enormous cylinder that supplies the apartments is refilled periodically when gas is available.

Now, what about communal gas? First, you must sign up on a list and pay for the 10kg cylinder refill, which costs $3. You sign up on a list managed by a sort of "communal council" coordinator. She will let you know the refill date so you can go with your gas cylinder and complete the process as instructed, which requires getting up early and waiting in long lines, plus it takes four months to arrive.

This is why many people choose to use electric stoves or have "dual" stoves, which have both gas and electric burners. Electric rice cookers and frying pans, air fryers, and basically any electric cookware have also become very popular.

This brings with it another dilemma: constant power outages that damage electrical appliances, and/or if you don't have a stove and gas as a backup, then you have no way to cook your food when the power is out. That's why every home should have a plan A and a plan B.

Some homes have opted to cook over wood, either out of choice or out of necessity. It's an advantage for people who live in a house with a garden.

Video from December 2024 in Petare, Caracas.

Video from April 2025. Queue to fill up with gas in the city of Maracay.