SPM to start trial run by Sept end: MRPL MD

The ambitious Single Pooint Mooring (SPM) facility along with coastal booster pumping station located about 16 kms away from the sea shore, is expected to be commissioned on September 20, informed MRPL Managing Director P P Upadhya.

The facility set up at an estimated cost of Rs 10,440 million, has a draft availability of more than 30 metres for handling Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).

Speaking to media persons soon after the 24th annual general meeting at MRPL premises near here on Saturday, he said the SPM is 99 per cent ready and the firm is awaiting better weather conditions to commission the facility. “The facility will take trial operation latest by September end,” he said.

Stating that SPM facility offers practical solution to many constraints and entails a number of advantages to MRPL, he said that use of VLCC will reduce the average freight cost of crude, enhance flexibility to receive opportunity crudes from West African and Latin American countries, de-congest existing jetties at New Mangalore Port and will also help in handling more petroleum products.

Explaining the facility, he said that once the crude arrives at the point, the crude will be pumped to the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL) underground cavern at Mangalore and Padur (in Udupi dist) for storage. “However, the full benefit of this project will only be available once the ISPRL caverns are operational,” he said.

Retail outlets

To a query on the delay in opening the retail outlet near Kadri Park, he said the facility is under dispute (litigation) and the next hearing is on October 29.

On the other hand, though the ONGC-MRPL has license to open 1,100 retail outlets, the firm would lose about Rs 6 - Rs 7 on a litre of petrol and over Rs 10 on a litre of diesel due to under recoveries in the selling petroleum products. To another query on whether the rise in diesel and LPG prices would benefit the MRPL, CMD Sudhir Vasudeva said that it is too early to rejoice.