BPCL, HPCL pick up 25 pc stake each in IOC's LPG pipeline project

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 4 (ANI): The government-owned oil marketing companies Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum have signed an agreement to form a joint venture company for the country's largest LPG pipeline project from Kandla in Gujarat to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
HPCL and BPCL will take 25 per cent stake each in the Rs 9,000 crore project. Indian Oil, which had proposed laying of the pipeline in 2016, will hold the remaining 50 per cent stake.
"IOC, BPCL, and HPCL have signed an agreement on June 3, 2019, for the formation of a joint venture company for implementation and subsequent operation of 2,757 km long LPG pipeline from Kandla, Gujarat to Gorakhpur, UP," the companies said in regulatory filings at stock exchanges on Tuesday.
LPG will be imported at Kandla and some sourced from oil refineries on the west coast will be moved up north via Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), Ujjain, Bhopal (in Madhya Pradesh), Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, and Lucknow (in Uttar Pradesh).
The pipeline will be the longest in India and carry six million tonnes of LPG per annum. The companies said the pipeline will supply LPG to 22 bottling plants along the route.
"The proposed pipeline will source product from Kandla and other LPG import terminals on west coast and two refineries at Koyali in Gujarat and Bina in Madhya Pradesh and would directly link 22 LPG bottling plants in Gujarat (3), Madhya Pradesh (6) and Uttar Pradesh (13) owned by the three promoter companies," according to the filings.
In addition, the pipeline will feed LPG through road-bridging to additional 21 LPG bottling plants in Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
"The pipeline is expected to provide reliability in the supply chain of LPG. Besides economic benefit as compared to road transportation, movement of LPG by pipelines shall enhance safety as well," it said. (ANI)