Deep-sea mooring trial begins mid-Jan, to cut fuel unloading time

The authorities plan to open the "Single-point mooring with double pipeline" project – undertaken to increase efficiency in handling imported crude and refined oil – on a trial basis by mid-January, with over 94% of project work having been done already.

Preparatory work for the trial run is now going on, Project Director Engineer Sharif Hasnat told The Business Standard. "If the trial run is successful, the project will go into full-fledged operation in March 2023," he added.

The sub-sea pipeline will enable the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to unload one lakh tonnes of imported oil within 48 hours, a job that currently takes 11 days, said project officials, adding that no lighterage would be required to transfer fuel from the mother vessel once the project is implemented, which now moors at the outer anchorage.

Infographic: TBS

Besides, it will help save Tk800 crore annually in tanker handling costs, and raise the country's capacity to reserve fuel oil for an additional 15 days, they maintained.

Work on the construction of the pumping station, tank firm, and six storage tanks on a 90-acre area of land has been completed.

Of the six tanks, three tanks will be able to store crude oil with 35,000 cubic-metre capacity each and the rest have the capacity to store 60,000 cubic metres of refined oil each.

Project officials said that all the tanks can store about 1.5 lakh tonnes of refined and crude oil.

Project Director Sharif Hasnat said, "Under the project, a 146km offshore pipeline is being installed. Out of this, work on 110km has been completed. This pipeline connects Maheshkhali with Patenga depot via Banshkhali and Anwara in Chattogram. Besides, work on a 74km onshore pipeline is also in the final stage."

"The project goal is ensuring energy security of the country by bolstering refined oil storage capacity as a backup for any emergency shutdown of Eastern Refinery," said Sharif Hasnat.

According to the Energy Division, generally crude oil and finished products from vessels will go directly to the mooring point. From there, the oil will be pumped through the pipeline to the Maheshkhali storage tank. From there, it will be sent by pipeline to Eastern Refinery in Patenga, Chattogram.

Meanwhile, businesspeople have said that if oil reserves are created in this project during global crises, there will be huge savings in terms of prices.

Speaking on this point, Abu Morshed Chowdhury Khoka, chairman of Cox's Bazar Chamber of Commerce Industry, said, "The oil storage capacity in our storage was insufficient. Moreover, oil used to be imported from abroad in mother vessels, and it took a long time to unload them properly at the Patenga depot.

"Now that the single-point mooring project is being implemented near the deep sea port, it will be of great importance. At the same time, if we can boost our oil reserves capacity, we will be able to deal with supply shortages and price hikes caused by various global crises in the future."

According to official sources, state-owned BPC is implementing the project at a cost of over Tk7,124 crore. The lion's share of the finance is coming from the Exim Bank of China (Tk4,688 crore) in project aid. Besides, the government is providing Tk601 crore and the BPC Tk1,835 crore for the project.

The Chinese state-owned company China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Company Limited is working as Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor, while Germany-based ILF Consulting Engineers has been providing technical support.

During a recent visit to the project site, The Business Standard found workers and engineers busy painting the buildings, developing the internal roads of the project, connecting various optical fibre cables to the storage tanks, and connecting the pipelines.

People concerned have said 70 engineers from Germany and China along with over 200 local workers are currently busy with last-minute work on the project, although 500-600 foreign nationals were employed following the beginning of the project.

According to the Energy Division, the single-point mooring project was initiated in 2015 and was initially scheduled for completion in three years. After three revisions, the deadline has been extended to June 2023.

Bangladesh annually imports around six million tonnes of crude and refined oil, of which some 1.4 million tonnes are crude oil.