The Hindu : Front Page : Issue of new LPG connections stopped

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Friday, May 16, 2008
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Issue of new LPG connections stopped

N. Ravi Kumar

— File photo

Oil companies have decided against augmenting their LPG cylinder inventory in the face of financial crunch. A scene at a bottling plant.

CHENNAI: All the three national oil marketing companies have directed their distributors in the State to stop issuing new liquefied petroleum gas and double bottle (second cylinders) connections.

“The release of new connections is suspended,” and the financial crunch facing the companies is behind the decision, a senior official of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd here told The Hindu on Thursday.

While BPCL and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd distributors were informed of the industry-wide decision on Tuesday, those of Indian Oil Corporation got the instruction, as text messages on their mobile phones, on Wednesday.

On the impact on the free cooking gas connection scheme of the State government, an IOC official said given that the decision covered all new connections, the companies were discussing what to do. The Civil Supplies Commissioner has also been informed of the companies’ decision, he added.

As against eight lakh connections that the State government wanted to be distributed under the scheme in 2007-08, five lakh have been issued. The list of remaining beneficiaries was yet to be provided by the government.

The BPCL official added that the company would “try and manage [to issue connections] to the extent possible,” under the scheme. The limitation for the companies was in the form of inventory of the equipment (cylinders), which, as a result of the financial constraints, could not be augmented.The oil companies, he added, would also keep in abeyance the process of selecting new LPG distributors. Oil industry sources, however, added that the decision on the new connections was not expected to be in force for long.

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