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‘Poros’, a Liberian flagged very large crude carrier (VLCC) loaded with 256,000 tonnes of crude bought by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) from Nigeria, has been waiting at the anchorage of Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) for more than a week, incurring huge demurrage charges.
The tanker carrying Okwuibome and Brass Light crude oil loaded from Brass terminal in Nigeria, arrived at the anchorage of Visakhapatnam Port Trust on August 22, but cargo discharge has been delayed due to non-availability of the required ullage (storage space) in the onshore storage tanks, shipping industry sources said.
The tankerage for storing crude in Vizag refinery is fixed and is based on continuous processing of crude. The ship will be taken for berthing and discharge operations at the single point mooring (SPM) in the port when the required ullage is available, the sources said.
The crude has to be discharged in one go otherwise it will entail additional charges.
The crude discharge operation is expected to start on September 4, the sources said, noting that it was not lack of storage that had held up the offloading of cargo.
“Storage is based on processing. Crude has to come, get processed and product has to go out. That is the chain,” the source said.
HPCL did not respond to a mail seeking comment.
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