The 330-km Paradip-Haldia crude oil pipeline of Indian Oil Corporation(IOC) will go on stream in four to six weeks, chairman Sarthak Behuria said today.The Rs 1,178 crore pipeline was originally scheduled to be commissioned in March 2006 but the project got delayed as the work on setting up a single point mooring and storage facility at Paradip was stalled due to issues ranging from technical problems to the replacement of the contractor.Behuria admitted that IOC had run into rough weather relating to the last point connection at Paradip.He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of Intaglio, an international B-school meet, hosted by the Indian Institute of Management in the city.Crude from vessels would be stored in Paradip and pumped through the pipeline to Haldia.Apart from ensuring assured supply of large volume of crude, the pipeline project will reduce the transportation cost substantially to the refineries in Haldia and Barauni.IOC’s Haldia refinery will benefit the most from this pipeline and is expecting a net positive impact of $1 per barrel in its gross refining margin.In another development, Behuria was scheduled to call on West Bengal Chief Minister later today but refused to divulge the agenda of his meeting."IOC is keen on setting up a petrochemical unit at the proposed PCPIR (petroleum, chemical and petrochemicals) hub at Nayachar but we have not received any communication from the government of West Bengal so far," Behuria said.
Source: Business Standard
5th January, 2007