Bpcl To Set Up Lpg Terminal At Paradeep

The public sector Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) would invest Rs 830 crore in the eastern region in the next five years, which will include the setting up of an LPG import terminal at Paradeep at a cost of Rs 250 crore.

VK Raina, director (marketing), BPCL, who was here to hand over the cheque of Rs 12 crore to Paradeep Port Trust for the purchase of 85 acres of land for the LPG import terminal, said the new terminal will have a capacity of 0.6 million tonne per annum. The LPG for the terminal is to be imported from the middle east, he said.

 

Raina said BPCL would invest about Rs 396 crore in Orissa, including the Rs 250 crore terminal, Rs 236 crore in West Bengal and about Rs 200 crore in Bihar.

The demand-supply gap of LPG in the eastern region is over three lakh tonne and is expected to rise to over six lakh tonne by the end of the Ninth Plan.

After its commissioning, the Paradeep terminal is expected to bridge the demand-supply gap of LPG in West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Referring to the waitlist of LPG connections, he said, the number of wait listed consumers is 1.4 crore in the country.

He expressed hope that with the commissioning of LPG import facilities at Paradeep and Haldia and upgradation of the existing facilities, demand is likely to be saturated by the turn of the century.

LPG import facilities at Kandla, Mangalore and Okha are already commissioned.

The capacities of Bombay and Vizag are being expanded.

The countrys indigenous production of LPG is 3.2 million tonne while 0.7 million tonne is being imported.

The availability of LPG would improve in the next financial year with the import touching 2.5 million tonne, besides the indigeneous production of approximately 3.5 million tonne.

BPCL, which has 19 bottling plants with total capacity of nearly nine lakh tonnes, plans to set up 14 more bottling plants under the Eighth and Ninth Plans, Raina said.

Six bottling plants are also coming up in the eastern region at Uluberia, Burdwan and Raigunj in West Bengal, Begusarai and Ranchi in Bihar and Guwahati in Assam which would augment the companys bottling capacity.

Raina said, BPCL has developed coastal infrastructure at Kandla in the west, Vizag in the south and Budge Budge in the east to facilitate the imports of petroleum products.

Independent docklines are being laid at Kandla, Vizag and Tondiarpet to augment import facilities and coastal facilities at Haldia, Paradeep, Nhava Seva and Kakinada were also underway, he added.