For uninterrupted supply during the lockdown and to meet the sudden spike in demand, the State run-Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has tied up to import additional cooking gas, about 50% over the normal imports.
India is the world’s second largest importer of cooking gas, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and more than half of its demand is met from global suppliers, especially in the Middle East.
IOC has already undertaken steps to ramp up LPG output in its major refineries by optimising operations, improving LPG yield, and its bottling plants are working extended hours to meet the growing demand.
The increased import will ensure availability of bulk LPG for its bottling plants.
Since last fortnight, IOC delivered over 3.38 crore LPG cylinders to its customers which works out to 26 lakh cylinders per single working day.
The transport infrastructure linking the plants to the distributors has been optimised for quick turnaround of cylinders.
The company has advised its distributors to give priority refill deliveries to LPG customers under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), for whom the government has extended the facility of three LPG refills free of cost during the months April, May and June 2020.
IOC said it has initiated the transfer of the retail selling price for the first LPG refill to the bank accounts linked by its PMUY customers for direct subsidy payments. “Accordingly, a total amount of over Rs. 2,780 crore is being transferred to the bank accounts of about 3.7 crore PMUY customers, and the process is likely to be completed in the next two days,” as per IOC.
IOC said that people across the supply chain are practising high standards of hygiene and sanitisation and are using masks and gloves while handling & delivering cylinders.