Industry & Economy
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Petroleum
LPG issue: Govt sets up emergency task force
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
Oct. 6
AFTER an hour-long emergency meeting with the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) on the cooking gas (LPG) shortage issue, the Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, said the Government has also set up an emergency taskforce comprising representatives of the three marketing companies to source the LPG required to meet the domestic shortfall. LPG inventories, which stand at 1,90,000 tonnes (6-7 days requirement), would be drawn down to meet the immediate requirement. The stocks would be replenished when imports are tied-up, he said.
The state-owned OMCs together are expected to import 351,000 tonnes of LPG from October to December to meet the local supply and demand gap. The companies in all will import 27 cargoes. Each cargo will bring in 13,000 tonnes of LPG. In fact, about 14 cargoes have already been tied up. The Petroleum Ministry is understood to have asked the oil firms to import 200,000 tonnes more of liquefied petroleum gas immediately to cope with a cooking gas shortfall.
Demand-supply gap: Speaking about the demand and supply gap, Mr Sarthak Behuria, Chairman, IOC, said that while the estimated production between April-December was 5.4 million tonnes, the demand was expected to be around 7.4-7.5 million tonnes. The deficit of 2.1 million tonnes in LPG production during April-December was higher than the estimated shortfall of 1.8 million tonnes, Mr Behuria said.
Mr Behuria said that a shutdown at Jamnagar refinery created a deficit of 180,000 tonnes of LPG and a fall in production by ONGC and GAIL caused a shortfall of 100,000 tonnes.
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