Mangalore, Dec 8: Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dr M Veerappa Moily inaugurated the Single Point Mooring (SPM) system set up by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) 17 kilometres off the Tannir Bavi coast, along with a coastal booster pumping station set up at a cost of over Rs 1000 crore on Saturday December 7.
Addressing reporters he said that the system will facilitate in pumping crude oil to the companies even during war and other crisis. The same system can be used to pump crude oil to the underground oil caverns of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited at Mangalore and Padur in Udupi.
MRPL Managing Director PP Upadhya said, “With the commissioning of the SPM, big ships of about 2.5 lac to 3 lac tones can be brought here, which would also aid in decongestion of the harbour. Although the SPM will only be dedicated to large ships and small ships will continue to enter the jetty and load off the crude oil as before.”
He further said, “The crude oil pumped at SPM on the high seas will pass through a pipeline connected to a point on the coast, from where it will pass on to MRPL or the ISPRL. The SPM will enable MRPL to ship in crude parcels on Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), at a discharge rate of 10,000 kilo litre without causing spillage.”
Oil India Development Board Secretary L N Gupta said that with Mangalore, Vishakhapatna and Padoor storage units, 5 million metric tonnes of crude can be stored, which creates crude reserve for 45 days. The system is expected to be functional from August 2014,” said Oil Industry Development Board Secretary L N Gupta.
MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLA Mohiuddin Bava and others were present on the occasion.
