Dr. M Beena IAS, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust (CPT) inaugurated the Heat Traced Pipe Line (HTPL) facilities and the refurbished South Tanker Berth (STB) developed by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) at Cochin Port. The Rs.337 crore project of BPCL aims at enhancing synergies between its West Coast Refineries in Mumbai and Kochi while also optimizing refinery operations at both these locations. The CPT Chairman switched on the receipt operations in the presence of Executive Directors Mr. Prasad K Panicker (Kochi Refinery) and Mr. Murali Madhavan P (Refinery Operations) and other senior officials of Kochi Refinery and CPT.
 

The STB that was underutilized for a long time, has been revamped with an all-new loading arm and booster pumps for the HTPL receipt and transfer facility. The first parcel of high viscous residue from Mumbai Refinery was received on 03 December 2019. Incidentally all three product berths at the Ernakulam Jetty - South Tanker Berth, North Tanker Berth (NTB) and the Crude Oil Terminal (COT) had tankers occupying for the Oil Industry on this auspicious day, an occurrence after a very long time for CPT.
 

Appreciating the transformation of STB that also translates to more revenue for CPT, Chairman Dr. Beena said that this would further reinforce the cooperation between BPCL and Cochin Port, an association valued right from the time the refinery was established in 1966.
 

On her enquiry regarding the utilization of the facility, Mr. Prasad K Panicker, Executive Director (Kochi Refinery) shared that the facility has been developed for total integration between Mumbai and Kochi Refineries and would be initially used for smaller parcels of intermediates since there are viability issues for sourcing larger parcels. “Petroleum products like MS and HSD are not included in the GST basket currently whereas intermediates attract GST. The GST paid on intermediates is only partially set-off on the fuel products generated from them, making this less viable for us. From our side, all efforts are on for seeking better tax strategies to make transfer of intermediates more attractive. Additionally, the pipeline would also be used for exporting heavy petroleum products and intermediates,” Mr. Panicker explained.
 

The inaugural receipt was also witnessed by Mr. A Mohanlal, Chief General Manager (Engineering & Advisory Services), Mr. M R Subramoni Iyer, Chief General Manager (Operations) Mr. Kurian P Alapatt, General Manager (Human Resources) In-charge , Mr Sampath Kumar R J General Manager ( Engg & Construction ) and Mr N Chandrasekhar GM ( Oil Movement & Storage) from Kochi Refinery along with Mr. Jimmy George, Traffic Manager, Capt. Krishnaraj R, Dock Master, Capt. Shaji Abraham, Harbour Master, Mr. G Vaidyanathan, Chief Engineer, Mr. V Thuraipandian, Chief Mechanical Engineer and Mr. M P Ramesh, Chief Fire Officer, from Cochin Port Trust.
 

The pipeline with skin effect electrical heat tracing that was laid across Kochi city with minimum disturbance to traffic and public in a record time of six months from CPT to the Refinery was commissioned earlier this year by Mr. R Ramachandran, Director (Refineries). The HTPL facility supports optimization of capacity utilization of various units at Kochi Refinery post the recent integrated refinery expansion. The HTPL primarily enables transfer of high pour intermediates like Low and High Sulphur Vacuum Residue (HSVR), Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) and Low Sulphur Heavy Stock (LSHS) between the two refineries. In Mumbai, a similar pipeline has been laid from Mumbai Refinery in Mahul to JNPT. In Kochi, the pipeline that brought crude oil to the Refinery way back in 1966 has been replaced with the new HTPL.

 

The facility comprises of the 10.577 Km long 20 inch cross-country pipeline and augmented facilities at the Port. The complete facility including the heat traced pipe lines, state-of-the-art Marine Loading arm, twin screw positive displacement booster pump and electrical substation were thus inaugurated with the receipt of the first parcel from Mumbai. Internationally benchmarked safety features including CCTV, leak detection and tamper detection systems are also in place.
 

M/s Engineers India Limited, M/s Corrtech International Pvt Ltd and M/s Lloyds Insulation & Thermon are the primary engineering, construction and technology partners. One of the key projects of Kochi Refinery Engineering & Construction, the team that saw the project through included M/s P S Ramachandran , Mohanlal A, Georgi Varkey Abraham, Saju Thomas, Robin T J, Arjun T Chandran, Pralhad Suthar, Sai Saran, Sampath Kumar RJ, Sajeev K A, V Shankar Raman , Rajeeve B and Radhakrishna Pillai G.
 

This project had also received the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC)’s Best Project Construction Award for Kochi Refinery earlier this year.