Do You Know the Butanero?

You may have heard them calling through the streets: “bu-tan-oooo.” Or you may have heard the clanging of metal on metal announcing their arrival. This is the butanero’s unmistakable announcement that he is making his delivery rounds.

The fact that butaneros physically deliver tanks to households is a rarity in itself, and dates back to the Franco era, when the government-administered gas company had a monopoly. The provision of this service is now privatized, but butaneros remain. A bombona de butano is a tank filled with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases, most commonly propane (which is usually over 90% of the mix) with butane and propylene. The tanks are distributed throughout the Iberian Peninsula, but in France, for example, domestic LPG users are obliged to take empty tanks to their local petrol station where they can either refill them or buy new ones. This option is available here as well, but the gas tanks can also be bought directly from a truck on a delivery route.

The Increasing Cost of Energy

The cost of a 12.5-kilogram butano tank today is €19.55—a record high, up from €13.96 in early 2021. The price fluctuates because the General de Política Energética y Minas (General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines) reviews it every two months and takes into consideration several market factors such as the price of crude oil, increasing shipping costs and the value of the Euro against the US Dollar.

Spain's largest distributor is Repsol with around 200 distribution agencies that employ more than 2,000 butaneros delivering the canisters to users' homes. Delivering the tanks is not an easy day’s work, and is one that most Spaniards would not consider—botaneros rely heavily on the tips people give them after they carry the 12.5-kilogram tanks upstairs on their shoulders.

In Spain, people tend to use LPG tanks mainly for their cooking or heating needs, although some of its other uses range from powering cars to refrigeration and air-conditioning. Santiago Jiménez, a resident of El Born, said he only uses LPG gas in the kitchen. “It probably lasts me up to about three months, give or take a week or two.”

In spite of recent increases, the relatively low price of butano may be why some people still choose to use it. Some may simply prefer it as an alternative to natural gas or electricity, or for the simple reason that it's just the way things have always been done. But from 2003—the first year that the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) collected data—through 2021, the use of LPG had fallen by 47.3%. Despite the decline, just over eight million households continued to use LPG gas in 2021.

The decreased use of  LPG is evident in Barcelona, which was the first city in Spain to conform to European standards by having almost every part of the city connected to natural gas pipelines. These constant and free-flowing gas pipelines provided by Gas Natural have made the provision of gas much more convenient, and have been a major factor in luring more clients from LPG to natural gas.

Another possible reason for butano’s declining use may be because of safety concerns and fear. While gas tanks are relatively safe, they are liable to explode—in the case of fire, extreme heat or incorrect usage—with the force of a bomb. Even as the numbers of butano users continues to go down, however, the shouts of passing butaneros, and the clang of their iron sticks against the tanks, will still be sounding through the city’s streets this winter.

Originally published November 2007, updated August 4, 2022.