VP to inaugurate LPG bottling plant in Odisha on Dec 27

A new LPG bottling plant set up at a cost of Rs 103 crore by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in Odishas Balangir district will be inaugurated by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on December 27.

The plant with a capacity to produce 42 lakh cylinders per year is scheduled to be dedicated to the nation by the vice president at Barkani in Balangir district, Sanjay Sharma, BPCLs State Head, LPG - Odisha and Jharkhand, told reporters here on Sunday.

BPCL already has a LPG bottling plant at Khurda and the new plant at Balangir will be the second for the company in Odisha.

The foundation stone of Balangir LPG bottling plant was laid on May 21, 2018 by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The vice president will inaugurate the plant in the presence of Odisha Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal, Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik, Dharmendra Pradhan and a host of other dignitaries, Sharma said.

Odisha had 20.22 lakh LPGG consumers in 2014 which has grown up to 88.10 lakh in 2019.

The LPG penetration in Odisha was 20 per cent in 2014 which has increased to 81.3 per cent by 2019 thus an increase of 61.3 per cent in penetration.

Amongst the oil marketing companies, BPCL itself has 21.59 lakh customers who consume approximately 78 lakh cylinders in a year. This consumption is expected to increase from 78 lakh cylinders to 105 lakh cylinders by end of 2020.

With LPG demand growing, particularly in Western and South-western Odisha, need for putting up a new bottling plant was felt and the historical town of Balangir was chosen for locating the plant considering the logistics advantage of the location.

The LPG plant at Balangir is spread over 23 acres and have a capacity to produce 42 lakh cylinders per year.

Balangir plant once commissioned will supply LPG cylinders to the consumers in 14 districts of Odisha - Balangir, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Sonepur Koraput, Malkangiri, Nowrangpur, Boudh, Kandhamal, Raygada and Nuapada, Sharma said.