The Hindu : Multiproduct terminal launch at Tuticorin by month-end

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Multiproduct terminal launch at Tuticorin by month-end

By N.Ravi Kumar

CHENNAI SEPT. 21. The multiproduct terminal of the Indian Oil Corporation at Tuticorin and the captive oil jetty of its subsidiary, the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited at Nagapattinam are scheduled to be commissioned soon.

The multiproduct facility, basically an expansion of the IOC's coastal terminal at Tuticorin, is intended to augment and speed up supply of popular products to markets in the southern parts including Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Virdhunagar.

The country's largest oil company invested around Rs.60 crores in the facility, which would have a storage capacity of about 7,800 kilolitres of petrol, 22,515 KL of diesel and 14,250 KL of kerosene. At present, the coastal terminal had a facility to handle 42,124 KL of naphtha and 26,530 KL of furnace oil.

The terminal was a key component in the company's strategy to penetrate deeper into the existing markets in the areas. ``The multiproduct terminal would be ready by month-end'', said T. L. Jain, Regional Director-South.

A similar time frame was drawn for the commissioning of the captive oil jetty, which would ``take care of the receipt of the raw material'' for the company's Cauvery Basin Refinery at Panangudi, near Nagapattinam.

The company was establishing the facility, involving a 1.4-km jetty and an 8-km pipeline from the coast to the one million tonne refinery at a cost of around Rs.96 crores. The oil jetty was ``mechanically ready'', said S. Rammohan, CPCL Chairman and Managing Director.

The CPCL was also evaluating the prospects of setting up either a Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) or construction of an ``alongside jetty on a build-own and operate basis'' at Ennore here to receive crude for its Manali refinery.

Though an SPM would involve a comparatively small capital investment, a captive berth offered many benefits but entailed more investment, especially in dredging. The idea was to deepen the basin to bring crude on the Very Large Crude Carriers which were cost-effective.

The company, he said, was exploring the possibility of sharing the dredging cost of the basin with those intending to establish an iron ore handling facility at Ennore.

The move to shift to Ennore was necessitated by the company pipelines between the Chennai port and its refinery at Manali aging. Moreover, maintenance of the pipeline had become difficult as it passed through crowded localities.

The CPCL, however, would consider using the existing facility at the Chennai port for transporting crude to the Haldia refinery of the IOC as the port there did not have sufficient depth to attract VLCCs. ``The idea was to construct a storage point at the terminal and connect it through a pipeline to the refinery, from where the crude would be moved to the Chennai port. Smaller vessels would then transport the commodity to Haldia, explained Mr. Rammohan.

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