The unloading of crude oil through a pipeline from a mother ship in the deep sea has been suspended within a few hours after its official launch following a leakage in the pipeline.
The unloading officially started at 10:15am on Monday. Then the pipeline ruptured within hours and the much-awaited program came to a halt.
Md Lokman, managing director of Eastern Refinery Limited, explained the reason for the closure of the unloading.
“For the first time in the country, last Monday morning, unloading started directly from the ship through the pipeline through the seabed. It was stopped due to a pipeline fault at around 3pm that day, which could not be restarted,” said the official.
“The project is still experimental,” he said.
“The contractor will hand over the project to us after fixing the fault. In this way, about 7,000-8,000 tons of oil is released from the ship. The remaining oil from the ship will be transported to the Guptakhal main depot in Patenga and Eastern Refinery tanks in Patenga by lighter tankers of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation as before.”
Another source said the pressure of the oil released from the ship caused the pipeline leak. Officials concerned think this happened due to the fault of the pipeline. Some oil spilt into the sea through the pipeline. Due to this the unloading process was stopped in haste.
According to sources at the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the largest ship in the history of Bangladesh, MT Hore, reached Matarbari on June 24 from Saudi Arabia with 82,000 tons of crude oil. The large oil tanker is 229 metres long and has a draft of 12.5 meters. Oil discharge was scheduled to begin on June 25, but the commissioning process was postponed till June 28 due to adverse weather conditions.
After that, the second phase of commissioning was undertaken under the supervision of the Chittagong Port Authority on Sunday. The next day, Monday, from 10:30am, the unloading from the mother vessel through the pipeline started.
Chittagong Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail told reporters: “Bangladesh has entered the era of releasing oil from the deep sea through pipelines, before many developed countries. The trial release of 82,000 tons of crude oil imported from Saudi Arabia began in the deep Bay of Bengal. This oil will come to Chittagong’s Eastern Refinery through a 116-km-long pipeline. Due to this project of Tk8,000 crore, the system of oil unloading will reduce losses and costs, and the time it takes will be reduced from 25 days to just two days.”
According to the project details, a single-point mooring (SPM) has been set up in the Bay of Bengal six kilometres west of the coast at Kalamarchhara union in Maheshkhali. Unloading of crude oil and diesel will be done from the SPM through two separate pipelines 36 inches in diameter.
The 16-km pipeline will first bring oil to the Sonarpara CSTF or Pump Station and Tank Farm in Kalamarchara. After the commissioning of the pipeline, hedges and circuit bulbs will be tested.
After that, the oil will go to the sea coast of Anwara upazila through a 74-km pipeline through various pumps from the storage. From there, the oil will be taken to the storage tank of the Eastern Refinery in Patenga through a 36-km pipeline.
