Bangladesh on Monday started unloading crude oil through the newly constructed Single-Point Mooring (SPM) system in the Bay of Bengal, according to sources.
The state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is currently unloading around 82,000 tonnes of crude oil from the offshore mother vessel to onshore storage facilities using the SPM system, SMP Project Director Sharif Hasnat told the FE Monday.
He said the entire volume of crude oil is expected to be unloaded by Wednesday.
"It has been taking three days to unload the crude oil through the SPM system, whereas it took around 11 days to unload the same volume of crude oil during the pre-SPM era," said Mr Hasnat.
This marks a trial run of Bangladesh's maiden SPM system in the Bay of Bengal, he noted.
After the trial, the BPC will proceed with the first filling of diesel into the SPM, Mr Hasnat mentioned.
In addition to its regular crude oil imports, the BPC imported around 82,000 tonnes of Arabian Light Crude oil in June to facilitate the piloting before the formal commissioning of the SMP, BPC Director for Operations and Planning Khalid Ahmed told the FE.
The SPM system serves the purpose of transporting petroleum products from offshore vessels to onshore storage facilities. Following a successful trial, it will transition into commercial operations.
Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL), Bangladesh's lone refinery and a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPC, usually imports around 1.50 million tonnes of crude oil annually for domestic refining purposes.
According to BPC Director Khalid Ahmed, once the SPM system becomes fully operational, Bangladesh is expected to annually save around Tk 8.0 billion (US$75.50 million) solely by reducing transportation costs of petroleum products from outer anchorage to onshore fuel tankers.
The BPC is implementing the key project with the assistance of China at an approximate cost of Tk 65.68 billion. Of the total project cost, the government contributed around Tk 12.19 billion, BPC Tk 6.85 billion and the remaining Tk 46.63 billion came as project aid.
As part of the project, a 220-kilometre pipeline has been installed, with most of it laid in the waters of the Bay of Bengal. Construction works for the fuel-pumping stations and six fuel-storage tanks have also been completed.
The storage tanks have a combined capacity of around 240,000 tonnes for petroleum products. Of them, 150,000 tonnes are designated for crude oil and 90,000 tonnes are allocated for gasoil.
azizjst@yahoo.com
