KOCHI: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), the second largest Indian Oil Marketing Company, a ‘Maharatna’ and a Fortune Global 500 Company will be supplying medical oxygen from its Kochi Refinery in view of 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.
Last year, the Company had supplied around 40 tonnes of medical oxygen when the average daily cases had risen in October-November 2020. The build-own-operate unit of Kochi Refinery has a provision to produce and store liquid oxygen of 99.7% purity.
Currently, the Company has around 20 tonnes of storage of oxygen from which the government hospitals will be supplied. This supply shall be free of cost to Government Hospitals.
With average daily cases of COVID-19 rising again since last one month, the demand for oxygen has significantly risen. In fact, in most parts of the country, the cases are hitting new peak, thereby disrupting the demand-supply scenario for medical oxygen.