Shipped in fuel not enough for additional stock
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 23 2022: Though petrol, diesel and LPG are essential items whose requirements are immense in day to day activities of every household and the society at large, the rate at which the three items are being brought into the State is not adequate to keep additional stock for use at the time of crisis.

According to credible sources, the fuel and LPG stock at Malom Oil Depot and Sekmai Gas Bottling Plant have been depleting due to varied reasons.

Till June 21, the Malom Oil Depot had a petrol stock for 18 days while diesel there would last for 25 days.

The gas bottling plant at Sekmai had a LPG stock for eight days.

Reportedly, only 120 refilled tanker trucks and LPG bullet tanks are being brought in by CRPF convoy daily (five days a week).

Of the 120, 70 tanker trucks and 35 bullet trucks belong to IOCL.

As per the source, the amount of petroleum products and LPG being brought into the State is not adequate to stock up the storage tanks at Malom Oil Depot and Sekmai Gas Bottling Plant.

The oil marketing companies which are active in Manipur are Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Nayara Energy (ESSAR) .

Of the oil companies active here, it is the IOCL which takes a major responsibility in ensuring there is no shortage of petroleum products and LPG in the State.

Other than IOCL, no oil companies active in Manipur have an oil depot and bottling plant with storage tanks attached.

Apart from supplying petroleum products to the State regularly, the IOCL also has the facilities to stock-up excess petrol, diesel and LPG to meet the State's requirement for the essentials at the time of emergency.

As per credible sources, the State has 180 petrol pumps, of which 132 belong to IOCL while the remaining 48 are owned by BPCL (38), HPCL (6) and Nayara Energy (4) .

The marketing capacity of IOCL in Manipur is petrol (200 kilolitre per day) and diesel (350 kilolitre) approximately.

The oil depot of IOCL at Malom has capacity to store 5484 kilolitre of petrol, 10,818 kilolitre of diesel and 4478 kilolitre of kerosene.

As per the source, the oil depot at Malom can provide petroleum products to the State for 30 days (approx) if its storage tanks are filled to capacity.

In the past, the oil depot used to store enough petroleum products in its storage tanks and keep additional refilled tanker trucks in diversion to supply fuel to the different retail outlets when there is a problem at the highways.

A similar mechanism was used in the bottling plant at Sekmai in supplying LPG to the distributors.

The storage capacity of the LPG bottling plant at Sekmai can only last for 14 days.

The IOCL, however, could not store LPG and petroleum products at its bottling plant at Sekmai and Malom Oil Depot to its capacity as the rate of sourcing petroleum products and LPG from other States have reduced considerably even in the dry season.

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