BPCL, HPCL take 25% each in IOC’s LPG pipeline
Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) will acquire 25% stake each in Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC’s) LPG pipeline project connecting Kandla in Gujarat with Gorakhpur in UP, ensuring capacity utilisation of the Rs 9,000-crore project aimed at bulk availability of the clean cooking fuel in the heart of the country. The three state-run companies signed an agreement on Monday for forming a joint venture company to implement the project, proposed in 2016 in anticipation of demand rising due to the Narendra Modi government’s move to rid rural India of smoky kitchens by providing LPG connection free of cost under the Ujjwala scheme. The Ujjwala scheme has turned the country into the world’s second-largest importer of LPG after China since 2017-18 as demand jumped by 8% due to the addition of over seven million poor households to the consumer base since the scheme’s launch in May 2016. Since India is a deficit in LPG and largely depends on its import, the proposed pipeline will ease transportation from the main import terminal and cater to a quarter of the population by feeding 22 bottling plants along its route. The pipeline will wheel 6 million tonnes of LPG from the Kandla import terminal and west coast refineries to the north via Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Ujjain, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, and Lucknow in UP. This will be the country’s longest LPG pipeline. State-owned gas utility GAIL operates a 1,415-km pipeline from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Loni near Delhi, wheeling 2.5 million tonnes of the fuel. GAIL also has a 623-km Vizag-Secunderabad pipeline.
CNG, piped natural gas prices to increase from July 1 in Mumbai
The Mahanagar Gas Limited will hike prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in Mumbai region from Monday. The price of CNG has been hiked by 42 paise per kg while piped cooking gas rates will go up by 26 paise/unit. The revised price of CNG in Mumbai will be Rs 51.99 per kg while the price of PNG will be Rs 31.79/scm (slab 1) and Rs. 37.39/scm (slab 2) respectively. The existing of price of CNG (till June 30) was Rs 51.57 while the rates for piped gaswere Rs 31.53 (slab 1) and Rs 37.13 (slab 2). MGL officials said they were “constrained to partially pass-through its increased gas costs resulting into increase in the basic price of CNG in Mumbai.” “The CNG price hike is in view of increase in MGL’s gas costs due to increase in regulated tariff of Trombay RCF pipeline network from Rs 1.04 / MMBTU to Rs 25.15 / MMBTU and that of Uran-Thal-Usar pipeline network from Rs 3.49 / MMBTU to Rs 6.03 /MMBTU,” an official stated. This increase would have a marginal impact of one paise per km and two paise per km on the per km running costs of autos and taxis respectively, said MGL spokesperson Neera Asthana. “Even after the above revision, CNG still continues to be a very attractive proposition and offers savings of about 51% and 22% as compared to petrol and diesel respectively at current price levels in Mumbai. Also, piped gas continues to deliver unmatched convenience, safety, reliability and environmental friendliness to consumers,” she added.
LPG transport operators begin indefinite strike across south India
The Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Operators Association (SRBLPGTOA) began their indefinite strike from Monday. The association made the announcement on June 22, based on the decision taken at their general body meeting that was held in Namakkal town on June 20. Talking about the strike, president of SRBLPGTOA, M Ponnambalam said that, three oil companies including Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are not providing job orders to many bullet tank owners for the past nine months. “Many of our association members raised opposition against the oil companies during general body meeting,” he said. He also said that, the general body has authorized the association to announce for indefinite strike within seven days from the general body meeting. “Based on the decision, the SRGLPGTOA commenced the strike,” he said. The Namakkal based SRBLPGTOA comprising LPG bullet operators from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Puducherry. The association members operate more than 5,500 bullet tankers across South India. They transport LPG from the refineries of those three oil companies to bottling plants. The oil companies will make an agreement with the bullet tank operators. The companies will renew the agreement once in five years. Such an agreement was ended with the bullet tank operators on October 31, 2018. When the oil companies came forward to renew the agreement, the SRBLPGTOA demanded to give job orders for all the 5,500 bullet tankers. The oil companies also had agreed to their demand. “But, they have not fulfilled their promises,” Ponnambalam said, adding that, they have given the orders only for 4,800 tankers and they did not considered the rest. Meanwhile, officials from the oil companies said that, their LPG agencies have sufficient stocks for the next 15 days. “There will not be any demand for LPG cylinders and we will settle the issue as early as possible,” said an official.
India lowers tariff for KG Basin pipeline network by 64 per cent
India has fixed about 64% lower tariff for the Krishna Godavari basin gas pipeline network at 16.14 rupees per million British thermal units (mmbtu), according to an order by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). The previous tariff was 45.32 rupees and India’s biggest pipeline operator, GAIL, had proposed a revision to 47.20 rupees/mmbtu for the pipeline network that begins from Krishna Godavari basin in the east coast, the order issued late on Friday said. However, the Board has fixed tariffs for Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline and Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline in line with GAIL’s proposal. The new tariffs are applicable from Monday.