BPCL to invest Rs 900 cr to set up new LPG pipeline

Kochi: Bharat Petroleum Corporation will invest Rs 900 crore to set up a new LPG pipeline from its Kochi refinery to Coimbatore and to enhance the storage capacity at its Irumpanam installation.

The 229-km pipeline, at an investment of Rs 600 crore, will not only minimise transportation of gas through road but also connect the company’s bottling plants in Palakkad and Coimbatore, thereby improving the distribution network, Prasad K. Panicker, Executive Director, BPCL Kochi Refinery, said.

The company would invest another Rs 300 crore at its Irumpanam unit near Kochi Refinery to increase the storage capacity by four million tonnes, Panicker told Business Line.

The storage capacitywill be increased to 8 million tonnes with the completion of Integrated Refinery Expansion Project (IREP), he said.

The funds for both these projects will be in addition to the Rs 14,225-crore investments set apart by the company for IREP, which envisages increasing the refining capacity to 15.5 mmtpa from 9.5 mmtpa.

According to Panicker, the company intends to launch both these projects simultaneously with the IREP project scheduled to be commissioned by September 2015.

LPG requirement in Kerala is estimated at 60,000 tonnes a month and BPCL produces 45,000 tonnes. On completion of the project, Kerala will have surplus LPG, he said.

There are also plans to extend its Cochin-Coimbatore-Karur (CCK) pipeline to Bangalore to move various auto fuel products.

Once the work is complete, more products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene can be moved via the pipeline to Karur, Coimbatore and Bangalore.

It may be recalled that BPCL had recently commissioned a 35-km ATF pipeline to Cochin International Airport from Kochi refinery at an investment of Rs 41 crore. Earlier, ATF used to be supplied by tanker trucks.