NewsKarnataka – Mangalore
Mangalore: Enhancing the development in the city, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dr M Veerappa Moily initiated a single point mooring (SPM) system with a coastal booster pumping station set up by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) on Saturday December 7.
The project which is worth Rs 1000 crore was constructed at Tannir Bavi coast around 20 kilometer from the city.
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.”
Explaining it further he 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 Industry Development Board secretary L N Gupta said, “Three caverns are being built, each at Vishakapatnam, Mangalore and Padur, among which Mangalore cavern measuring 9 km will have a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.”
“The work will be completed by 2014, almost 95 percent of the project has been done”, he added.
MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLA Mohiuddin Bava and others were present on the occasion.