Prasad K Panicker, Executive Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) Kochi Refinery informed that the firm would spend Rs 900 crore on a new LPG pipeline project and storage capacity project.
While the state-run oil refiner would invest Rs 600 crore to set up a 229-km pipeline in Kochi Refinery, it would spend another Rs 300 crore at its Irumpanam unit to raise the storage capacity by 4 million tonne.
The proposed pipeline would not only minimise transportation of gas through road but also connect the companyÂ’s bottling plants in Palakkad and Coimbatore, thereby improving the distribution network.
The storage capacity will be increased to 8 million tonne with the completion of Integrated Refinery Expansion Project (IREP).
The company would invest the Rs 900 crore in addition to the Rs 14,225-crore investments set apart by the company for IREP, which envisages increasing the refining capacity to 15.5 mn mtpa from 9.5 mn mtpa.
According to Panicker, the company intends to launch both these projects simultaneously with the IREP project scheduled to be commissioned by September 2015.
LPG requirement in Kerala is estimated at 60,000 tonne a month and BPCL produces 45,000 tonne. On completion of the project, Kerala will have surplus LPG, he said.
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