Petroleum Network to be Expanded in Odisha: Oil Minister

Bhubaneswar: Announcing expansion plans worth Rs 4,500 crore for Odisha, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said the petrol, diesel and LPG network would be expanded to benefit all the consumers in the state.

After reviewing the work of Indian Oil Corporation, Hindusthan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum and their marketing network in Odiaha, Mr Pradhan said the state has an LPG consumer base of 28 per cent of population and it would be raised to 33 per cent this year and 50 per cent household in three years.

At present, the national average of LPG consumer base is 60 per cent. The endeavour of his ministry would be to bring Odisha at par with national average, he said.

He also said three new product pipelines would be constructed - Paradip-Ranchi, Paradip-Durgapur and Paradip-Raipur. The new pipelines will go through several areas of the state, which will carry petroleum products to the most parts of the state.

Now the coastal centric distribution network of LPG, petrol and diesel will be widened and expanded to the nooks and corners of the state to achieve the national average, the Union Minister said, adding that the existing LPG distribution centre network of 404 would be raised to 750 in next three years.

Mr Pradhan said new depots, product pipelines, LPG terminals and imported LPG terminals in Odisha would entail an investment of over Rs 4,500 crore.

The Berhampur terminal would be modernised and a new depot would come up in Bhubaneswar. In addition to that, more depots will be opened in South and Western Odisha. Balasore depot will be modernised under new expansion plan, he said.

The minister said that under the new expansion plan, LPG distribution centres will be established within a radius of 15 km in all gram panchayats of the state.

He also said the expansion plan would create direct jobs to about 5,000 persons. Now, over 10,000 people are employed in various petroleum projects of central oil companies in Odisha.

Reviewing petrol pump network in the state, the Union Minister said the state had 1449 petrol pumps working at present. Within next three years 300 more petrol pumps will be added to the network.