The much-awaited transportation of imported fuel oil through underwater pipeline set up in the Bay of Bengal started from the storage tank at Moheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar on Thursday.
With implementation of the project “Single Point Mooring with Double Pipe Line,” the first of its kind in the country, Bangladesh entered a new era of fuel transportation system.
The implementing authority Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) Managing Director (MD) Md Lokman told the Daily Sun on Thursday that they started pumping diesel from the Moheshkhali end around 8am.
“The transportation was being conducted slowly and carefully. We are expecting to get the first drop
of the diesel at the storage tank of the ERL in the city’s Patenga area around 2:00pm today(Friday),” he said.
“After successful transportation of the first slot, the speed will be increased gradually,” said the MD adding, they found everything smooth till Thursday afternoon.
“We have a plan to transport some 40,000 tonnes of diesel, out of total 60,000 tonnes, primarily through the 94-km long pipeline from Moheshkhali to Patenga,” added the MD.
Sources said imported crude oil and diesel were offloaded from oil-tankers through a single point mooring (SPM) located in the Bay of Bengal near Moheshkhali coast in Cox’s Bazar on 3 December and 7 December last year, respectively.
Later, the petroleum products were transported to storage tanks set up at Moheshkhali. After conducting different examinations and fixing some problems, the authorities set 29 February for finally transporting diesel through the undersea pipeline to the ERL storage tank at Patenga, they said.
ERL will also transport crude oil from Moheshkhali on 9 March after the successful transportation of diesel.
The project will help the government save time and money as the products will directly reach the storage tanks from vessels. Around Tk800 crore will be saved annually due to the adoption of the new technology.
Besides, it will also reduce the transportation time to only 48 hours from 12-14 days, they added.
Currently, the government imports over 60 lakh tonnes of fuel oil through the waterways. But, due to the lack of required navigability in the Karnaphuli river channel, large oil-tankers cannot offload oil directly at the port jetty.
Previously, oil was usually offloaded from large vessels using lighter vessels, which took around 12 to 14 days.
To get rid of the time-consuming, risky and expensive process, the SPM project was initiated in 2015. The project involving around Tk4,936 crore was scheduled to be completed by 2018.
With extension of the project duration for three times, its cost reached Tk7,125 crore. The government and the Export–Import Bank of China financed the project, said the sources concerned.
Under the project, a storage capacity of two lakh tonnes has been developed at Moheshkhali.
The SPM has been set up in the Bay of Bengal, west off the coast of Kalamarchhara union under the Moheshkhali upazila.
Crude oil and diesel will be unloaded from SPM through two separate pipelines of 36 inch diameter. The oil will be brought to a pump station at the Kalamarchhara through a pipeline of 16 km.