http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=120542&date=2010-12-21
ERL taps German firm for single point mooring
Jasim Uddin Haroon
State-run Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) has selected a German-based firm for the establishment of its single-point mooring (SPM) project near Kutubdia Island on the Bay of Bengal, officials said Monday.
ILF Consulting Engineers was found eligible for carrying out undersea soil test and collate sea-related necessary data for constructing the floating platform.
“We’ve selected the German firm. We expect to sign the agreement with the company shortly,” said Rezaul Alam, managing director of the ERL.
The SPM would help prevent spillage of crude oil and refined petroleum products (RPP) while unloading to lighter vessels from large tankers.
Two other firms–Zee Engineering Consulting of Netherlands and Intec of Malaysia-were earlier short-listed by the country’s only oil refining firm.
Mr Rezaul said the consulting firm will collect sea data and soil test for the project to be financed by the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank.
ERL officials said SPM in the Bay of Bengal would carry petroleum products from vessels moored at an outer anchorage to the on-shore depot.
If the project is executed, officials said it will save around $10 million annually, allowing ships to unload petroleum products in the Bay instead of Chittagong port.
It will also reduce fuel unloading time by about 20 per cent or two to three days from the existing 12 to 15 days.
“It will raise fuel-handling capacity significantly,” said Syed Mozammel Hoque, a director of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
BPC currently pays $5.50 a tonne to the state-owned Bangladesh Shipping Corporation to carry petroleum ashore from larger vessels moored at the outer anchorage in the Bay of Bengal.
The floating platform would be built southwest of Kutubdia Island in the Bay of Bengal, 70 kilometres from the port of Chittagong.
A 77-km, 36-inch diameter pipeline would link Bangladesh’s lone state-owned ERL with the single point mooring.
The facility would help meet growing demand for fuel.
Bangladesh’s annual oil imports are expected to grow 33 per cent to 3.65 million tonnes to 4.85 million tonnes over the next couple of years.
