Mangalore, Dec 8: Single Point Mooring system of Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemical Limited (MRPL) was inaugurated by Minister for Petroleum M Veerappa Moily on Saturday. The SPM system has been installed at Tannirbavi, 17 kms off Panambur coast.
Addressing the gathering he said that the system will facilitate in pumping crude oil to the companies even during war and other crisis.
The same system can be used to pump crude oil to the underground oil caverns of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited at Mangalore and Padur in Udupi.
The SPM system which has been put up here at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore will drastically cut down the transportation cost for MRPL. It will largely help the company in importing crude oil from West African and Latin American nations.
The SPM system has a 30 mt long canal and the system can be used to pump out crude from Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).
Barring two to three days during heavy rains, the system can be used throughout the year. The system has the capacity to pump 10,000 kilo litres of crude per hour, said MRPL Managing Director P P Upadhyaya adding that Mangalore has storage capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes of crude oil, Padur has 2.5 million metric tonnes while Vishakhapatna has 1.55 million metric tonnes capacity of storage.
Oil India Development Board Secretary L N Gupta said that with Mangalore, Vishakhapatna and Padoor storage units, 5 million metric tonnes of crude can be stored, which creates crude reserve for 45 days. The system is expected to be functional from August 2014,” said Oil Industry Development Board Secretary L N Gupta.
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