(FE)
State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are expected to have an additional capacity of 1,242 metric tonnes per annum (TMTPA) in their LPG bottling plants by the start of FY22 through six brownfield and 10 greenfield projects, according to data from the ministry of petroleum and natural gas. The existing capacity is 23,514 TMTPA among 228 bottling plants for the three OMCs—IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. The proposed increase comes at a time when the country’s consumption is expected to increase, given the NDA government’s push towards a gas-based economy and move towards clean cooking fuel. The government has launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) to provide subsidised LPG connections to women belonging to the below-poverty-line category. The flagship scheme has made strides since its launch in May 2016 and the first-year target of providing 1.5 crore connections was achieved within eight months. OMCs in the last financial year released 3.25 crore new LPG connections of which around 2 crore were under PMUY. During FY16-17, LPG consumption in the country increased by 9.8% to 21.5 million tonne.
Though the increase in capacity over the next four years—between 2017 and 2021—may be a mere 5.2%, analysts believe it will be enough to meet the country expected demand. “All bottling plants in India are operating over their capacity as a lot of manual work has been done away with and improved technologies—such as carousel instead of conveyor belts—are being used,” said Deepak Mahurkar, partnet, PwC.
