Ship with 16,000MT LPG cuts through Hormuz to reach Maha port

Nagpur: Confidence Petroleum, one of the country's largest private cooking gas bottlers, has steered one vessel with 16,000MT of LPG through the Strait of Hormuz flanked by naval boats, and is docked in Maharashtra's Devgad port since Thursday. This was confirmed to TOI by the company chairman, Nitin Khara.Now, Confidence Petroleum hopes that easing of supplies would help slash prices of auto LPG and cooking gas. The navy has so far escorted 10 Indian-flagged vessels with LPG and crude through the conflict zone.The shipping company agreed to sail through Strait of Hormuz after an assurance of naval protection, and the vessels were carefully steered out as there was a risk of being struck by warring nations, said top sources.With the ship carrying cooking gas from a UAE company adding to the vessels reaching India, Confidence hinted at a further slashing of prices in coming days, said sources. After an initial round of hikes following the West Asia crisis, the company recently cut rates of both auto LPG and cooking gas — from Rs 121/ litre, the rate of auto LPG was brought down to Rs 99/litre. Cooking gas prices too were slashed from Rs 220/kg during the peak of the crisis to Rs 145/kg. Now, the company is open to further cut rates to ease the burden on consumers, said sources.Of the 16,000MT of LPG, around 8,000MT would be set aside for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), said sources. After that, Confidence would have enough stock to last for 10 days.Currently, two ships of Confidence Petroleum remain stranded in the Strait of Hormuz. However, vessels have now picked up speed, said sources. In March, the company brought two ships with 50,000MT of LPG originally bound for China in a mid-sea deal, offering a hefty premium as compared to the earlier buyer, said a source. The company has also purchased two vessels from the US, one of which is expected to reach India this month, with the other in June, said sources.