Date:15/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/15/stories/2008011557450100.htm

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Underground crude storage at city soon

Staff Reporter

The cavern is built at a cost of Rs. 333 cr.
Deora also opens HPCL jubilee fete

— Photo: K. R. Deepak

Big day: Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora after inaugurating the LPG cavern in Visakhapatnam on Monday. Union Minister M.M. Pallamraju, State Minister Konathala Ramakrishna and HPCL CMD Arun Balakrishnan are seen.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora on Monday announced that Visakhapatnam would soon have underground storage facility for crude.

He was speaking after inaugurating South Asia’s first LPG cavern here. The cavern built at a cost of Rs. 333 crore by South Asia LPG Company Private Limited – a joint venture of HPCL and French oil major TOTAL, is located 181 metres below mean sea level with a storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes.

Mr. Deora, who also inaugurated the golden jubilee celebrations of HPCL-owned Visakh Refinery, said they had taken a decision to build strategic storage of five million tonnes of crude in Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur. The Visakhapatnam facility will have a one-million tonne capacity.

Pat for HPCL

Complimenting HPCL and Total for commissioning the LPG cavern within four years, he said it would help in ensuring uninterrupted supplies of cooking gas.

The cavern marine terminal, located at Lovagarden, near Dolphin’s hill nose, is provided with world-class state-of-the-art instrumentation, control and safety systems.

HPCL Chairman and Managing Director Arun Balakrishnan said with excellent infrastructure for LPG storage and expansion of the capacity of Visakh Refinery, Visakhapatnam was all set to become a regional LPG hub.

Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallamraju, Congress MP and former Chief Minister N. Janardhan Reddy, Minister for Commercial Taxes Konathala Ramakrishna, and others were present.