LPG cylinder crisis looms as IOC plant in Malabar halts refilling

Malappuram: The LPG bottling plant of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at Chelari in Malappuram district has halted the refilling of commercial LPG cylinders following the supply crisis triggered by the ongoing war involving the US, Israel and Iran.

As a result, commercial customers of Indane gas agencies across the Malabar region who depend on 19-kg and 5-kg LPG cylinders will not receive refills until fresh orders are issued by the authorities. However, agencies that already have commercial cylinders in their godowns will continue distribution until their existing stocks are exhausted.

Meanwhile, the Chelari plant continues to fill domestic LPG cylinders as usual. On Saturday alone, more than 100 loads of domestic cylinders were dispatched to gas agencies in two shifts for distribution.

At the same time, authorities have extended the waiting period for domestic cylinder deliveries after booking. While refills were earlier supplied within three days to a week, customers may now have to wait at least a month for the next delivery. Gas agencies have also been instructed to accept bookings for a second cylinder only 15 days after the delivery of the previous one.

Before the disruption, the Chelari plant used to produce around 16 loads of 19-kg commercial cylinders daily for distribution across the Malabar region. With refilling now suspended, hotels, catering units and canteens across North Kerala are facing the prospect of a severe shortage.

Until Friday, the plant used to distribute about 3,456 commercial cylinders every day. The suspension has also affected the filling of 5-kg mini cylinders, with the plant earlier producing around 1,500 such cylinders daily. With that supply also halted, customers dependent on these cylinders are likely to face increasing difficulties in the coming days.

Meanwhile, authorities said that the Chelari plant was facing a shortage in the supply of LPG from the oil refineries in Mangaluru and Kochi. The number of LPG bullet tankers arriving from these refineries every day had fallen steeply from 32 to 16, they added.

The authorities also said that the reservoirs at the Chelari plant had sufficient gas stock to continue refilling for another 10 days. Additionally, around 50 bullet tankers with LPG are either waiting to be unloaded at the parking area of the plant or are currently travelling to Chelari, they added.

“Chances of a complete shortage of LPG are low for a month,” said an officer at the plant.

With the authorities having already increased the prices of domestic and commercial LPG, uncertainties over delivering refills have spread panic among customers.