Confidence Petroleum India has formed a joint venture with Norway-listed BW LPG to build a LPG storage capacity of 62,000 tonne at JNPT in Mumbai to bolster LPG infrastructure and downstream operations across India.
The newly-formed JV company BW Confidence Enterprise will set up similar storage facility across Porbandar (Gujarat), Mangaluru (Karnataka), Karaikal (Tamil Nadu), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Haldia (West Bengal) to ensure supply of LPG throughout the country.
BW LPG has invested $30 million (about ₹240 crore) in Confidence to acquire 8.50 per cent through preferential allotment.
Confidence has plans to invest ₹2,000 crore in the next three years across various projects. It will spend a capex of ₹400 crore this fiscal and plans to invest ₹600 crore in the next financial year.
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It recently acquired 12 acres at Butibori in Nagpur to manufacture type-IV CNG cylinders for automotive sector. These light-weight cylinders, made of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) co-polymer, can reduce CNG cylinder weight by 75 per cent and improve fuel efficiency of vehicles. The unit is expected to start production from August. It is also enhancing its LPG bottling units and CNG fuelling stations.
Nithin Khara, Chairman, Confidence Group, said the investment made by BW LPG will further strengthen the expansion plans of the company given the burgeoning LPG market.
The company is also making huge progress in meeting LPG demand in the hotels, restaurants, cafes (HoReCa) segment with the GoGas brand, he said.
The government push on electric vehicles (EVs) will not have much impact on the use of CNG vehicles, and both EV and CNG will co-exist in the market, he added.
Iver Baatvik, Vice President and Head of Corporate Development, BW LPG, said Confidence boasts a formidable presence in the domestic LPG industry, while BW LPG possesses a robust global shipping and trading footprint.
“The synergy between Confidence’s local strength and BW LPG’s international presence is a catalyst to accelerate growth trajectories for both parties,” he added.