Nagpur: Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have beefed up LPG supplies to their bottling plants, including those in Nagpur, by around 20% of the normal quota to ensure there is no shortage of cooking gas.However, the increased allocation is only for households, hospitals, and educational institutions. Commercial consumers, such as eateries and industries, would have to wait. There are internal orders to hold supplies to the non-domestic sector, at least in coming days, said sources in OMCs.
The companies have at least one week’s stock at their bottling units, including stock in transit, sources said. “At our plant, the storage vessels have three days’ stock; however, if the tankers waiting to get unloaded and those in transit are taken into account, then there is enough stock to last a week,” explained a source in one of the OMCs. The situation was similar at other companies too. So far, there has been no interruption in replenishment from the terminals to the bottling units. Consumers need not worry till the bottling plants are replenished regularly, sources said.During a recent meeting at district supplies department, OMC representatives had said there is enough stock to last for a couple of months. However, no submission was given in writing, an official said.All three PSU OMCs — Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) — have their bottling plants in the city. The facilities cater not only to the city but also the entire region, except Buldhana.A combined of 30,000 LPG cylinders are filled each day at the three facilities. HPCL has the biggest share at 15,000 cylinders daily. Around 8,700 cylinders are filled daily at IOCL while BPCL’s count stands at over 6,200. Loose LPG comes to the plants in tankers, from where it is filled into cylinders, supplying both domestic and commercial users.TOI visited one of the bottling plants where business appeared to be as usual. “Our quota was increased so that there is no panic among domestic users. Of course, there are instructions to stick to supplying only households, hospitals and educational institutions,” said the source at this bottling plant. The bottling plant has a storage capacity of 3,500MT of LPG and gets around 700MT a day, the source said.HPCL has over 28 lakh connections in the entire Vidarbha, except Buldhana, which is catered through the company’s Aurangabad office. IOCL has 19 lakh connections. The figures for BPCL could not be obtained.
