 "Fuel sale coming back to pre-pandemic levels, says IOC official")
Fuel sale in the country is coming back to normal which also shows the reflection of normalcy in economy, a senior Indian Oil Corporation official said on Wednesday.
In Maharashtra, the sale is yet to reach the pre-COVID situation and the deficit in diesel sale is still around 12 per cent, Executive Director and Maharashtra State head of Indian Oil Corporation Amitabh Akhauri told reporters here.
"As an industry we saw growth in petrol sale in October by 2 per cent. But in November it remained down but this month we are expecting to reach back to pre-COVID situation," he said.
"Since last month, the throughput of our refinery is 100 per cent and it shows that we are back to almost normal."
About fuel sale in Maharashtra, he said that there are limitations in the state as cities are sometimes closed. "The COVID effect is still there as we can see there is night curfew imposed in cities. Still we expect to reach normal sale in terms of petrol but the deficit in diesel will remain," he added.
Speaking about the new LPC cylinder named Chhotu which weighs just 5 kg, Akhauri said the company is planning to distribute it with the help of grocery shops and fuel outlets.
The cylinder can prove useful for travelling and floating population and can get the refill from any outlet of the company.
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The company is also doing research in using hydrogen as fuel and batteries used for electric cars and also on charging stations.
The company has also launched XP 100 petrol used to enhance performance of high-end luxury cars and bikes in 15 cities across the country and Nagpur, Pune and Mumbai of Maharashtra are included in its first phase, Akhauri added.
About the company's investments in Maharashtra, Akhauri said IOC is planning to invest Rs 2,600-2,700 crore in coming period. Of that, around Rs 800 crore will be invested in 2020-21.
The company is laying pipeline from Manmad to Solapur and the capacities of company in Manmad will be almost doubled.
The company is also establishing a bottling plant in Nagpur which will be operational in the next 2-3 months. The investment is of Rs 400 crore, he added.