Many petrol bunks of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) in and around the city ran out of diesel on Tuesday.
An official of BPCL, who did not want to be named, said the company did not get diesel supplies as a maintenance shutdown was in force at one of the units of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. refinery in Manali. But, the BPCL was making alternative arrangements.
Describing as “precarious” the diesel stock position at the 45 retail outlets in Chennai and its suburbs, he said the BPCL, however, was resorting to coastal movement of diesel from many locations, including its refinery in Kochi. A 10,000-tonne tanker would be unloading the product in Chennai on Wednesday, he said, adding the company had also placed orders with the Reliance refinery.
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CPCL Managing Director K. Balachandran said the situation with regard to availability of diesel had nothing to do with the turnaround shutdown of one of the three units of Manali refinery. The company, he added, had supplied whatever it had committed and it was a planned shutdown. The unit would be back on stream on Wednesday.