kolkata: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will invest around Rs 564 crore in various projects in West Bengal this fiscal. Executive director and state head of West Bengal sales office (WBSO) Pritish Bharat told reporters here that the projects are catalytic dewaxing plant at Haldia, augmentation of Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur pipeline and crude pipeline in Haldia.Of them, Haldia projects will attract Rs 240 crore.
IOC will also commission a new LPG bottling plant at Kharagpur at a cost of Rs 208 crore, taking its total number to six in the state.
Bharat said the company presently has four CNG pumps in Kolkata and 19 in West Bengal. Plans are there to increase the number by another two in the city and 10 more in the state during 2022-23.The CNG is sourced from IOC’s joint venture with Adani, he added.The official said with the increased demand for CNG and electric vehicles (EVs), the oil marketing PSU is taking these factors into consideration in its growth plans for the next five years. IOC now has 100 EV charging stations across the state.Bharat said the IOC has a market share of 52 per cent in the retail petrol and diesel and 60 per cent in the LPG segment.The company has seven bulk storage tanks for petrol and diesel at Howrah, Durgapur, Haldia (two), Malda, Siliguri and Budge Budge.Bharat said the demand for petrol and diesel has seen a surge in West Bengal in the current fiscal.