IOC officials have indicated to a visiting Australian autogas delegation that the company is gearing up to add necessary infrastructure for this purpose within the next 12 months or even earlier.

Speaking to The Financial Express, the Australian autogas team which is visiting Chennai said the Indian oil company officials whom they had met in Delhi and Mumbai earlier had clearly indicated that the Central government will clear the proposal to amend the Motor Vehicles Act and LPG Storage Act in the winter session of Parliament and this will allow use of LPG as autogas.

A second oil company team comprising BPCL and HPCL officials is slated to visit Australia next month under the auspices of Austrade, the Australian Trade Commission, to get a first hand account of use of autogas in Australia and explore possible areas of co-operation in this highly specialised area with private sector companies in Australia.

An IOC delegation had recently visited Australia and after studying implications of the use of LPG as autogas in India has decided to prepare itself to usher in the era of LPG supplies to vehicles in India.

According to officials of the Australian Autogas Mission Australia with its long experience in the use of LPG as autogas is ready to share technology in conversion kits for two-three-four wheelers and for commercial vehicles like buses and trucks.

The Australian mission team leader John Lockard and marketing manager of DJ Batchen Pty Ltd disclosed that the team is keen on joint venture projects and its members are in talks with Indian oil companies and OEMs like Maruti for alliances. Lockard said his company has opened talks with Ashok Leyland for a possible jointventure on LPG dispensing systems.

Other team officials said Australian companies were extremely encouraged by the response they got from the private LPG marketeers, Indian oil company officials and the government on use of LPG for automobiles sector. Australia, they disclosed, had the technology and expertise to provide turnkey solutions, consultancy, underground LPG tankage, training for kits conversion and pump installations, LPG dispensing systems and bulk storage of LPG etc.

Use of LPG is very safe and environmentally very clean. In Australia LPG costs are one-third of petrol costs. The officials said with the Supreme Court in India coming out with stringent emission norms in the cities first, use of clean fuel like LPG would assume paramount importance. In Australia, of half a million vehicles using LPG as fuel, nearly 74 per cent are private cars. Besides some five per cent of 480,000 vehicles are taxis and almost all of them run on LPG.

Use of LPG in India as autogas will depend on kits conversion which has been already cleared and on approval from Automobile Research Association of India and Vehicles Research & Development Establishment. Once the Central government amends the Acts and okays LPG usage, Australian firms are confident they can play a major role in enabling Indian companies to measure up to requirements of the market.