Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) to augment crude oil volumes at Mundra Port in Gujarat by expanding IOCL’s existing crude oil tank farm capacity.
The expansion will enable IOCL to blend and handle additional 10 million tonne per annum (mmtpa) of crude oil at Mundra. “This will support IOCL’s expansion of its Panipat refinery in Haryana,” Adani Port said in a statement.
IOCL is raising the capacity at its Panipat Refinery by 66% to 25 mmtpa to meet India’s rapidly growing energy requirements.
Karan Adani, CEO and wholetime director of APSEZ, said, “Mundra Port is a major economic gateway that serves the northern hinterland of India by providing multimodal connectivity. As IOCL’s trusted long-term partner, APSEZ is well-equipped to handle the additional 10 mmtpa crude oil at our existing single buoy mooring at Mundra.”
IOCL, which accounts for nearly half of India’s petroleum products market share, has a refining capacity of 80.55 MMTPA and over 15,000 km of pipeline network. Part of IOCL’s current crude oil requirement of 15 mmtpa for its Panipat Refinery is handled at the at Mundra Port.
The Mundra single buoy mooring is located 3-4 km off the coast where very large crude carriers (VLCCs) unload crude oil. An undersea pipeline then transports this crude oil from SBM to the Crude Oil Tank Farm and thereafter to the refinery at Panipat via the Mundra Panipat Pipeline.