The Hindu Business Line : BPCL’s mooring project to be ready by Nov

The project, which was scheduled for completion by May 2007, was postponed to November on account of an accident involving high sea piling mechanism for positioning the SPM buoy and subsequent unfavourable weather from May to September due to monsoon.

“The offshore contractor is remobilising by early October 2007 with crane barge for the balance activities at the sea and the project is to be commissioned in November. Operation and maintenance contract for crude receipt facilities has already been awarded,” Mr E. Nandakumar, Executive Director, BPCL-KR, told Business Line.

The company’s investment in its Kochi refinery is to go up to around Rs 12,000 crore in three projects in the next three to five years. The project consist of SPM buoy, a 19.4-km sub-sea pipeline, three crude tanks and associated facilities, cross-country piping of 10-km length along the backwaters and crossing the city. The project is in an advanced stage of implementation, he said.

The second project, capacity expansion and modernisation of the refinery, at an approved cost of Rs 2,591 crore, is scheduled for completion by September 2009, he said. It is for improving the quality of MS and HSD to meet Euro III equivalent norms by adding two new units to the existing refinery facilities and for low-cost expansion of the refinery from 7.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 9.5 MTPA by revamping the second crude distillation unit. The project will generate 160 direct employment and for about 1,500 people in the construction stage.

The third is a mega project for upgradation of refinery residue to value-added distillate products. He said that the project cost was expected to be around Rs 5,000 crore to 8,500 crore depending on the final configuration and would require three years to complete after obtaining investment clearance, which is likely soon. The BPCL-KR may approach the Ministry of Environment and Forests for clearance for the project, he said.

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