Indian Oil Corporation is converting 14 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers into medical grade oxygen carriers as the nation’s largest oil firm steps in to augment oxygen-carrying capacity in the country to aid COVID patients.
In a statement, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said it had previously diverted high-purity oxygen used in its Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) unit to produce medical-grade liquid oxygen at its Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex. In the face of a massive surge in demand for medical oxygen, the ”throughput of the unit has also been scaled down to serve the more critical cause. Presently, it is supplying 270 tonnes of LMO per day to the hospitals in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab,” it said.
IOC is also converting 14 LNG tankers of 17 tonnes each into medical grade oxygen carriers to strengthen the medical oxygen logistics in the country.
”By mid-May, over 20 road tankers and 25 ISO containers of about 820 tonnes combined capacity will be pressed into action by IOC,” the statement said, adding the firm will be manufacturing ten cryogenic road tankers at its Cryogenic Plant at Nasik over the next six months.
To further streamline the medical oxygen supply scenario, IOC has launched a single-window application – Sanjeevani Express.
”This application is equipped to enable real-time monitoring of liquid oxygen supply logistics. The single window platform has been created to help all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), oil companies and other central and state government agencies, to monitor allocation, dispatch and receipt of Medical oxygen,” the statement said.
IOC has also extended medical insurance to its corona warriors for yet another year to support fuel station attendants, LPG delivery persons, contract workers and truck drivers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic on the ground. Earlier, IOC contributed to India’s COVID-19 vaccination programme by supplementing the available Cold Chain Equipment (CCE) infrastructure in the four States of Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Manipur, for the storage and transportation of vaccines.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, IOC has incurred a CSR expenditure of about Rs 300 crore to help the country fight the deadly pandemic.
Source: Devdiscourse
