IMED smells rat in BPC’s fresh plan

The Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning has opposed the BPC's fresh plan to build single-point mooring (SPM) system quadrupling the overall cost, said officials.
The IMED smells rat in the BPC's plan and has sought the consultant's observation about it, an official said.  
The SPM is a complete, self-contained single-point offshore terminal facility that provides the means for both mooring and transferring cargo of very large crude oil carriers (VLCC) or floating offshore facilities.
"It is unfortunate that the IMED has objected to our renewed plan for building the SPM," Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) chairman AM Badrudduja told the FE Monday.
He said the BPC has scrapped the initial plan over building the SPM along with a pipeline considering technical aspects.
The initial plan to build a single pipeline associated with the SPM project would not be feasible, Mr Badrudduja said.
He said the BPC has come up with a new plan to build three separate pipelines in its SPM project instead of the previous one to carry crude and refined petroleum products separately from deep offshore.
Building three pipelines will minimise petroleum import and transportation costs significantly compared to a single pipeline although costs for building the infrastructure would be around $500 million, almost four folds of the initially estimated cost, said the BPC top brass.
As per the new plan, the BPC seeks to build an 18-kilometre (km) and 36-inch diameter pipeline from the SPM, to be built in deep offshore in the Bay of Bengal, to nearby Moheshkhali island to carry both crude and refined petroleum products, he said.
Two separate pipelines having 92 km in length and 18-inch diameter would be built in parallel from Moheshkhali to the Chittagong oil depot to carry crude and refined oil separately, he said.
In the initial plan, a single pipeline would have carried both crude and refined oil from the SPM directly to the oil depot in Chittagong.
"Under the new plan, we have planned to build a pumping station too at Moheshkhali island to pump oil from offshore to shore," Mr Badrudduja said.
The SPM is an infrastructure to be built and moored in the Bay from where petroleum products will be unloaded from mother vessel and carried through pipeline to storage tanks.
Officials said, initially the BPC had planned to build a single pipeline along with the SPM at an estimated cost of around US$136 million five years ago.
A Pakistani firm had guesstimated the project cost on the basis of a feasibility study conducted by it back in 2010, a senior BPC official said.
Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) subsequently had agreed to provide $ 129 million to help install the SPM near Kutubdia Island in the Bay of Bengal.
But the estimated cost grew later when a German firm, ILF Consulting Engineering, carried out a detailed study on the proposed SPM and re-estimated the project cost at $327 million, said the BPC official.
The IDB also later agreed to increase its funding by 70.54 per cent to $ 220 million from its earlier commitment of $ 129 million.
As the government failed to arrange additional fund for the SPM project, the IDB did not increase further its financing plan for the SPM.
The government has now shown interest to negotiate with a Chinese petroleum firm China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB) for building the much-needed SPM project along with the pipeline.
The BPC has already received an 'unsolicited' technical offer from the Chinese firm to implement the project.
A team of the CPPB, a subsidiary of China's state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), visited the project site near Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal and found it suitable.
The BPC chairman said building of the three pipelines along with the SPM would help quicken fuel imports at lower costs.
Carrying crude and refined oil through separate pipelines would be cost-effective compared to carrying both crude and refined oil through a single pipeline, the BPC chairman added.
In the event of a single pipeline, it would need to be washed every time before carrying a separate petroleum product, he added.
    mazizur.rahman@outlook.com