NEW DELHI, Feb 14: The Gujarat government has dealt a big blow to the fortunes of the proposed Rs 7,500 crore Bina refinery -- a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum and Oman Oil Company -- by refusing to allow it permission to go ahead and establish a single buoy mooring (SBM) off Vadinar, on the state's coast.While the refinery itself is located in Madhya Pradesh, the Gujarat government's permission was required as the country's smaller ports are controlled by the state's maritime board. Besides the SBM, the Bina refinery had also proposed setting up other facilities at Vadinar.
The refinery's promoters -- each has a 26 per cent stake, will now have to look for an alternate site, and re-work their cost-economics once again. Initial work on the refinery is already around 6 months late and this is expected to add considerably to the delay. The refinery was originally slated to be commissioned by 2001-02.
A SBM is essentially a kind of unloading platform in the ocean (around 3 or 4 km off the coast)where oil tankers can unload their crude, which is then transported to the coast through an under-sea pipeline, and to the refinery through a land-pipeline. It is generally used in areas where the ports do not have sufficiently large enough draft to allow very large crude tankers to come in -- if smaller tankers are used to carry crude, costs shoot up dramatically. Given the size of the proposed refinery -- 6 million tonnes -- an SBM is essential if it is to be cost-effective.
An SBM, and the associated under-sea pipeline is expected to cost in the region of Rs 400 crore. Bina was also proposing to set up a crude oil storage terminal and pumping facilities at Vadinar.
Currently, the only other refineries in the country that are fed their crude through SBMs are the Indian Oil Corporation refineries at Koyali and Mathura. Hindustan Petroleum plans to use a similar system to feed its proposed Punjab refinery.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
