BPCL to commission Rs 1.03-billion LPG bottling unit by March 2020

The new bottling unit, being built at a cost of Rs 1.03 billion over 23 acres at Barkhani village, would generate direct and indirect employment for 80-100 people

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), a maharatna PSU, aims to commission the LPG bottling unit at Balangir, its second in Odisha, by March 2020.

The new bottling unit is being built at a cost of Rs 1.03 billion. The facility is to be spread over 23 acres at Barkhani village, around 12 km from the Bolangir railway station. The unit would have the capacity to produce 4.2 million LPG cylinders per year and cater to the requirement of the consumers in 14 districts – Balangir, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Sonepur, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Boudh, Kandhamal. Rayagada and Nuapada.

"The new bottling plant would generate direct and indirect employment for 80-100 people,” said Atul Kumar, regional LPG manager (east), BPCL.

The foundation stone for the Balangir LPG bottling plant is scheduled to be laid on May 21 by Union Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Social Justice & Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot. 

OMCs have set up four LPG bottling plants at Balasore, Jharsuguda, Khurda and Jatni with a combined capacity of 28 million cylinders per year. The count of LPG consumers in Odisha has grown from 2.02 million (as on June 1, 2014) to 6.21 million (May 1, 2018), a surge of 207.5 per cent. Demand for packed LPG in the state is expected to rise drastically from 454,300 tonnes last year to 610,000 tonnes by 2020.

BPCL alone has an LPG customer base in Odisha of 1.53 million who consume 7.8 million cylinders in a year. By 2020, the LPG consumption in the state is poised to touch 10.5 million cylinders. LPG demand in the state is markedly growing in western and southwestern parts of the state. This geographic demand prompted BPCL to set up the new LPG bottling plant at Balangir, given the logistics advantage of the location.