7 yrs after Ministry move, auto LPG use still negligible

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 7: Despite all its efforts during the past seven years, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry’s bid to promote Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) use for automobiles has not borne fruit. According to Oil ministry sources, LPG constitutes just 1.29 per cent of total auto fuel sales in the country. The Ministry is, however, optimistic about the situation that will emerge after augmentation of the country’s capacity to produce LPG in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

Explained an oil company official, “Initially the Auto LPG Dispensing Stations (ALDS) project was given to all public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), including Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. But the project was later stalled for some time. Now, Indian Oil has some expansion plans.”

Ministry official say that the Government has set a target of adding 48 more ALDS this fiscal. IndianOil will either set up its company operated ALDS or give it to private operators. IndianOil has 127 ADLS across 58 cities in the country. It had 116 ADLS at the end of the last fiscal. It has to add 37 more ADLS to meet its target for this fiscal (2007-08) with just five months left to do so.

According to Ministry sources, the public sector oil marketing companies were not very keen on the ADLS project due to the shortage of LPG in the country. India depends on imports to meet more than 20 per cent of its LPG demand. During the last fiscal, the country imported 2.2 million tonnes of LPG while its production was 8.4 million tonnes. But there will be no shortage of LPG by the end of Eleventh Five-Year Plan as an additional refining capacity of more than 90 million tonnes would be added, they said.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Federation of All India Petroleum Traders president Ashok Badhwar said, “There has been a poor response to ALDS in the entire country. If we see Delhi, there are just 16 ALDS, whereas CNG dispensing stations are more than 170. In metros like Delhi, private operators cannot have the luxury of more than 900 sq m space for setting up an ALDS. If the OMCs set up their own ALDS to increase visibility in metros, then more auto companies would look at it as alternate fuel.”

Explaining why ALDS failed to pick up in the states, Punjab Petroleum Dealers’ Association president J P Khanna said, “There is a need to make LPG use mandatory for public transport in states to make it more popular like for local buses and auto-rickshaws. In all major cities of Punjab, a large number of auto-rickshaws are running on spurious diesel, which is about Rs 5-6 cheaper than Auto LPG.”

Few takers

• Auto LPG sales form 1.29% of total vehicle fuel sales.

• 236 ALDS were operative at the end of 2006-07

• IndianOil has added 11 more so far during 2007-08

• IndianOIl to add 37 more ALDS this fiscal

• Oil ministry has set target of 284 ALDS in 2007-08

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