OMCs to invest ~30,000 cr in LPG infra in next 3 yrs
On the back of the success of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, oil-marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd are set to jointly contribute ~25,000-30,000 crore to expand their liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) infrastructure in the next three years.
On the back of the success of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), oil-marketing companies such as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) are set to jointly contribute ~25,000-30,000 crore to expand their liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) infrastructure in the next three years.
The target is achieving 95 per cent LPG penetration in the country by 2020. India is currently the second-largest LPG consumer in the world with the central government adding 60 million connections in the past two years.
In 2016-17, the country added 20 million connections under the PMUY and another 10.25 million connections under the non-Ujjwala route.
“We are planning to infuse another ~25,000-30,000 crore into LPG infrastructure, including setting up bottling plants. By 2020, we expect the LPG penetration in the country to be about 95 per cent from the current level of 72 per cent. We expect a saturation in growth by 2020,” said Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, addressing a press conference to mark the first anniversary of the PMUY in Delhi. The scheme, which has so far added 21.7 million families, was launched on May 1 last year at Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh.
“For every 10 million connections, we need investments worth ~10,000 crore in LPG infrastructure. We added 4,600 distributors in the last three years and for every 7-10 km there will be at least one distributor,” Pradhan added.
Currently, India imports about 50 per cent of its LPG requirements. Pradhan said, keeping this in mind, the country was coming up with its longest LPG pipeline from the Kandla coast in Gujarat to Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, covering Ahmedabad, Ujjain, Bhopal, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, and Lucknow. This is expected to carry 3.75 million tonnes of LPG a year and cover 2,650 km, and may see an investment of about ~7,000 crore.