HPCL to go solo on its Rs. 700-cr LPG facility

State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited may go solo on its plans to build its second underground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage facility in Mangalore.

The company which was planning to rope in Total SA of France, to build the cavern jointly, said Total is not interested at present and may join the company at a later stage.

'We see merit in the project and have decided to go ahead. We will commission the detailed feasibility report shortly and then call for tenders in the next four-six months,' said a senior HPCL official.

The cavern, will cost HPCL Rs. 700 crore and will store 60,000 tonnes of LPG. HPCL and Total, through their equal joint venture, South Asia LPG (SALPG), already have a 60,000-tonne capacity LPG underground storage facility in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The facility was commenced in 2007 at an investment of Rs. 333 crore.



BS