BPCL to Supply Medical Oxygen to Kerala from Kochi Refinery

NEW DELHI:
State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Thursday said it will supply medical oxygen to Kerala from its Kochi Refinery to meet shortage of the same for critical patients of COVID-19.

“The company will be supplying around 1.5 tonnes per day of oxygen to government hospitals from this facility,” BPCL said in a statement.

Last year, the company had supplied around 25 tonnes of medical oxygen when the average daily cases had risen in October-November.

The build-own-operate unit of Kochi Refinery has a provision to produce and store liquid oxygen of 99.7 per cent purity.

Currently, the company has around 20 tonne of storage of oxygen from which the government hospitals will be supplied.

“This supply shall be free of cost to government hospitals,” it said.

With average daily cases of COVID-19 rising again since last one month, the demand for oxygen has significantly risen.

In most parts of the country, the cases are hitting new peak, thereby disrupting the demand-supply scenario for medical oxygen.