Photo: Collected
The Tk 8,300 crore Single Point Mooring (SPM) project has still not started commercial operation nearly two years after construction ended. Now Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has signed a five-year contract with Indonesian state-owned company PT Pertamina Trans Kontinental to operate and maintain the facility. This opens the way for unloading oil by pipeline from large ships in the deep sea. BPC officials say commercial operation of the project may begin in the first week of January. BPC estimates it will save about Tk 700 to 800 crore a year when running at full capacity.
The contract was signed at BPC’s liaison office in Dhaka on Thursday. BPC Chairman Dr Md Rafiqul Islam was chief guest, and Indonesian Ambassador Listiowati was present. BPC Director (Planning) Muhammad Asadul Haque signed on behalf of BPC, and the company’s President Director Haris Abdi Sembiring Meliala signed for PT Pertamina Trans Kontinental. Representatives of the Energy Division and BPC officials were also present.
Under the contract, the Indonesian company will operate and maintain the SPM facility for the next five years. The contract value for five years is about Tk 1,946 crore. Earlier, on 23 September, the cabinet committee on government purchase approved the proposal to award the company the job. BPC Secretary Shahina Sultana said the formal contract was signed on Thursday and the company will soon start work on the ground under the contract.
Until now, oil had to be transferred from large ships to smaller ones at the outer anchorage of Chattogram port and then brought ashore, which took more time and money. The aim of the SPM project is to cut that time and cost by unloading oil directly from large tankers into pipelines.
Once the project is running, large oil tankers (mother tankers) will connect to a floating buoy in the deep Bay of Bengal. From there, oil will go by pipeline to tanks built at Kalarmarchhara in Maheshkhali. Crude oil will then be sent by pipeline to Eastern Refinery in Chattogram. Dedicated pipelines are also in place for storing and distributing refined diesel.
BPC General Manager (Planning and Development) AKM Naim Ullah said commercial operation of the SPM will be possible in the first week of January. Floating moorings, pumping stations, a tank farm and about 220 kilometres of pipeline have been built under the project. There are separate pipelines for crude oil and diesel.
BPC estimates that unloading 1 lakh tonnes of crude oil takes 10 to 12 days by the conventional method, while the SPM will unload the same amount in just 48 hours. Unloading 60 to 70 thousand tonnes of diesel will take 28 hours. This will reduce ships’ waiting time, as well as the use of lighterage vessels and transport costs. BPC hopes to save Tk 700 to 800 crore a year.
BPC implemented the project with Chinese financing, and China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Company Limited carried out the construction. The cost was initially estimated at Tk 5 thousand crore but later rose to Tk 8,298 crore. Construction and trial operations ended in March 2024. But delays in commercial preparations, including appointing an operator, meant the investment was not paying off; the project’s commercial benefits were held up for nearly two years.
PT Pertamina Trans Kontinental is the marine transport and logistics arm of Indonesia’s state-owned energy company Pertamina Group. It has experience in operating and maintaining ships, marine transport, ports and offshore infrastructure.
However, the SPM’s full capacity cannot be used as soon as it starts. The annual capacity of the crude oil pipeline is about 45 lakh tonnes, while the country’s only state-owned refinery, Eastern Refinery, can currently refine only 15 lakh tonnes a year. So full use of the pipeline is not possible yet. When Eastern Refinery’s second unit (ERL-2) starts, refining capacity will rise by another 30 lakh tonnes, increasing the scope to use oil brought in through the SPM. But implementing the second unit will take more time.
Background
According to a bdnews24.com report of 8 July 2023, trial unloading of oil through the SPM was suspended just 5 hours after it began when a problem appeared in the pipeline connecting it to the ship.
A report by the same outlet on 21 November 2024 said the advisory council committee on economic affairs approved that day a decision to give the job of operating the SPM to CPPEC, the Chinese company that implemented the project.
Sources
Background sources: bdnews24.com, 8 July 2023; bdnews24.com, 21 November 2024
