Paradip plant to help IOC save almost Rs1 crore/day on transportation costs

26-Mar-08

In 2011, when Indian Oil Corp. Ltd.'s (IOC) 15 mln tpa refinery and petrochemicals complex at Paradip, Orissa comes onstream, the state refiner anticipates daily savings of almost Rs1 crore from reduced transportation costs. This is because of the depth of the Paradip port that allows very large crude carriers (VLCC) to dock, thus resulting in directly feeding the refinery. A VLCC can transport around 300,000-350,000 tons of crude oil in a single journey. The refinery will have a single-point mooring (SPM) at high seas, where the VLCCs will drop anchor; the crude will be transported through a pipeline to the petrochemical complex. The SPM is expected to cost the company around Rs750 crore. IOC currently follows a system wherein after being received at the shipping terminals, crude gets transported through pipelines to refineries across the country. IOC's current crude requirement is pegged at 60 mln tpa, of which 70 is imported from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Iran and Abu Dhabi. Most of this is imported on VLCCs to achieve economies of scale in transportation.