OMCs gear up to meet LPG bottling demand

The surge in demand for household liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) following the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has forced oil marketing companies (OMCs) to sweat their existing LPG infrastructure in the last fiscal year.

New LPG-related infrastructure additions are likely to happen in FY18 and FY19. Until then, OMCs will have to depend on increased number of shifts and technology upgrades.

For FY17, the packed domestic LPG consumption rose 10 per cent to 17.18 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from 18.87 mtpa. In the same period, the bottling capacity of OMCs increased 7 per cent to 16.26 mtpa from 15.17