Pipe laying work of BPCL Kochi refinery to start soon

Kochi, Sep 23 (UNI) The city road pipe laying work of the Single Point Mooring (SPM) project of the BPCL Kochi Refinery will commence soon with the project being cleared by the District Coordination Committee.

A BPCLKR release here said that the work on the project is of national importance as it aims to cut down on the cost of crude transportation and facilitate arrival of very large crude containers to the West coast.

The work on the pipe laying will start once the Monsoon rains subside, the release said.

As a pre-condition for laying the pipes, BPCL is to pay Rs five crore to the Kochi Corporation for social development works, of which Rs four crore has already been paid. Restoration charges of Rs 34 lakh will also be paid to the PWD, it said.

The 30-inch carbon steel pipe is being laid as a part of the new Crue Oil Receipt Facilities project involving an SPM buoy in the Arabian Sea, 20 km off the Vypeen coast.

The pipeline from the SPM buoy will be of 48 inch diameter and will be laid under the sea. The pipeline from the shore tank farm at Puthu Vypeen, after crossing Vallarpadam and the Ernakulam backwaters, will reach the Rajendra Maidan, from where it will cut through several busy city areas along the Hospital Road, MG Road and Chittoor Road to reach the existing refinery pipeline corridor after crossing the railway track near the KSRTC stand.

According to a plan prepared jointly by the BPCL Kochi Refinery and the traffic police, the 1.7 km work along the city roads is divided into 11 sections to minimize disturbance to the public.

The 30 and 16-inch pipelines will be laid at a minimum depth of 1.2 meters below the ground level.

The work, to be undertaken by M/s IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Ltd., is expected to take about three months along the busy Hospital Road-M G Road areas.

UNI ARC MSJ RN0830