Public and private players in steel business have supplied a total of 3131.84 metric tonnes of Liquid Medical oxygen (LMO) to various states on the April 25, 2021, compared to 2,894 tonnes dispatched on the previous day.
A week earlier, on an average 1,500/1,700 metric tonnes /day was being dispatched. The production on April 25 was 3,468.6 MT.
Steel plants have been able to enhance the supply of LMO by taking various initiatives, which include reduction in the production of Nitrogen and Argon and only producing LMO in most plants.
The steel plants are normally required to keep 3.5 days of safety stock of LMO in their storage tanks which is vaporised and used in case some problem develops in the oxygen plants.
Through continuous engagement with the steel producers, the safety stock has been reduced to 0.5 days instead of the earlier 3.5 days because of which LMO supply had significantly increased.
To facilitate the faster movement of LMO, It has been directed by DPIIT that certain number of nitrogen and argon tankers be converted to carry oxygen. As on date, there are 765 nitrogen tankers with a capacity of 8,345 MT and 434 argon tankers with a capacity of 7,642 MT.
