CHATTOGRAM, Dec 12: Bangladesh has built up storage capacity of petroleum products at 13 lakh metric tonnes, according to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) sources.
Presently, BPC has constructed six storage tanks at Maheshkhali under the project of the Single Point Mooring (SPM) and installation of double pipeline, sources said.
Three tanks with the storage capacity of 1.25 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil and the rest three tanks with capacity of 75,000 metric tonnes of refined or diesel have been constructed under the project. As a result, the storage capacity of SPM stood at two lakh metric tonnes.
Earlier the storage capacity of petroleum products was at 11 lakh metric tonnes, BPC sources said. Hence, the storage capacity of the country has increased to 13 lakh metric tonnes, sources said.
The tanks situated at the Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) can accommodate 5 lakh metric tonnes of petroleum products, both crude and refined while the tanks of three petroleum marketing companies at Chattogram installations and other areas of the country have the storage capacity of 6 lakh metric tonnes. The petroleum products stored up in the tanks at Maheshkhali will be pumped to the Eastern Refinery Limited tanks through pipeline.
Recently, 82,000 metric tonnes of crude oil and 62,000 metric tonnes of refined products had been pumped to the storage tanks at Maheshkhali successfully. Those petroleum will be pumped to the ERL tanks at the end of the current month, said M Lukman, Managing Director of the Eastern Refinery Limited.
Meanwhile, under the current arrangement, big ships usually anchor at deep sea at Kutubdia from where lighter vessels receive the imported crude and refined petroleum to carry to the Eastern Refinery with the whole process taking 12 to15 days.
After beginning the operation of the project, the crude petroleum products will be directly pumped to the ERL site.
Curently, two lighter vessels of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) carry the imported petroleum products to ERL site from the Kutubdia site of the Bay.
But when the SPM is set up with underground pipeline, it will take just 24 to 48 hours. The BPC sources said, with its installation, a total of Tk 800 crore will be saved annually.
At present, the country imports nearly 80 million tonnes of crude and refined petroleum fuel to meet the annual demands. Of them nearly 1.2 million tonnes are refined in ERL, the only refinery of the country. This import is expected to rise significantly when a number of fuel-fired power plants have already been set up in the country.
Besides, the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the countrys first Single Point Mooring (SPM) on November 11 last.
