The cooking gas import terminal on Puthuvype island near Kochi will receive the first consignment of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on Friday. The shipment was earlier expected to arrive here by Thursday night. The 5,000 tonnes of LPG from Saudi Arabia will be utilised for a trial run of the terminal and storage facility, said sources here on Thursday.
The LPG terminal was envisaged more than a decade ago to end Kerala’s dependence on import of LPG at the Mangaluru port and movement of the fuel to Kerala by road. The import terminal and associated facilities are built by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). The terminal work had been completed earlier but the storage facility had met with opposition from local residents, who claimed that the storage facility posed a threat to life and property.
However, IOC had received the required clearance for the facility and had said that it was inducting the latest safety measures adopted at such facilities so as to avoid any adverse impact.
IOC is the lead supplier of cooking gas in the State with three bottling plants across Kerala - Kochi, Kollam, and Kozhikode. The fuel for these bottling plants is supplied via road from Mangaluru. The oil marketing company has also been supplying 1.05 lakh cylinders approximately on a daily basis in the State. IOC also has around 352 LPG distributorships and 33 auto LPG dispensing stations in the State.
The LPG active customer base for IOC in the State is nearly 48 lakh out of a total LPG customer base of around 95 lakh. The IOC share in the LPG market in Kerala is more than 50%.
IOC has also entered into agreement with the Civil Supplies Commissionerate in the State for supply of the smaller ‘Chottu’ cylinders. The 5-kg cooking gas cylinders have generated great response, with the State accounting for one of the highest volumes of sales across the country. Around a quarter of the total sale of Chottu cylinders is accounted for by the Kerala market.
The company has also seen good response in digital transactions, with more than 90% of the refill bookings for LPG coming via the digital mode. Besides, around 33% of payments are done on digital platforms.
As part of its initiatives, IOC had also pioneered the use of LPG in fishing vessels in place of kerosene and diesel.
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