South Asia’s first of its kind 60,000 tonne capacity Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) underground cavern storage facility was commissioned here on Wednesday.
The commissioning started with an intake of 39200 MT LPG from 40,000 MT capacity Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) Maharshi Bharadwaj of Varun Shipping. The cargo was arranged by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) for public sector oil marketing companies from Saudi Arabia.
This is the first time such a large vessel has entered the country with full LPG cargo.
The cavern has been set up by South Asia LPG Company Limited (SALPG), which is a joint venture between HPCL and Total, a French oil major.
It has been dug in solid hard rock to store LPG at 162 metres below mean sea level (MSL). The cavern designed on “water containment principle” is jacketed with water curtain. Besides being safe from natural calamities and hazards like sabotage, and aerial bombings, the caverns are leak and fireproof.
The cavern is expected to ease the storage constraints on the eastern coast and will enable the oil industry meet the ever growing demand of LPG in the country.
The Rs 333-crore project has come up at Lova Garden near Dolphin’s nose hill in Visakhapatnam. The foundation for the project was laid on February 19, 2004.
