Mumbai, June 1: Oil major Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is planning to set up a tank farm at the Jawarharlal Nehru Port (JNP) for storing high speed diesel (HSD) and superior kerosene oil.

According to JNPT sources, HPCL has promised to guarantee a minimum throughput of two million tonnes per annum. The storage capacity of the tank farm will be around 1.5 lakh kilo litres, sources said.

HPCL has sought `in principle' assistance of the port for allotment of 50 acres for the tank farm project. The company gave a detailed presentation of the proposal to JNPT authorities on Saturday.

HPCL is soliciting reduction in lease charges. The company's contention for seeking the reduction is that the project will be at least for 30 years and will generate enough revenue for the port, sources said.

``The cost of project has not yet been finalised by HPCL,'' they added.The company has sought JNPT's permission to receive products from coastal tankers, both export and domestic. HPCL also wants the port's consent to transport the products from JNPT's service jetty to the tank farm area. The products are proposed to be transported to the storage tank via road, rail and pipeline.

HPCL proposes to lay a railway sliding to transport the products to tank farm. The company also wants to set up a pumping station at JNPT which will be pumped through a proposed 20 inch diameter pipeline to Vashi. HPCL has a receiving and throwing station at Vashi.

The 20 km long pipeline between JNPT and Vashi will have a maximum capacity of 1,500 tonnes an hour. According to port sources, HPCL wants to upgrade the Vashi station into a pumping station. The corporation has an existing 14 inch pipeline connecting Mumbai to Pune which terminates at Loni.

HPCL's proposal to lay an extra pipeline between JNPT and Vashi is for easing congestion at its existing pipeline at the Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT). It transports white oil and black oil via MBPT.

As per HPCL's application, the Mumbai Port has only four jetties handling around 20.2 million tonnes of POL cargo. Of the four jetties, only one caters to the chemical cargo. Citing the congestion problems at the Mumbai Port, the company's letter states that the berth occupancy at the port's four POL jetties is 80 per cent but with a pre-berthing delay of 12 days. ``The average turnaround time for the vessel is four days'', the note adds.

The projected POL traffic at MBPT for 1997-98 is 27.6 million tonnes which is expected to go upto 25.2 million tonnes by 2001-2. By 2006-7, the POL traffic is projected to reach 30.1 million tonnes. Even the working group appointed by the oil industry has stressed that there is need to handle more POL traffic at the ports, sources said. ``JNPT can handle the additional POL traffic generated in the future,'' they added.

JNPT registered the highest growth rate of 303 per cent by handling around 5.28 lakh tonnes of liquid during April 1996 to February 1997 as against 1.31 lakh tonnes handled in the previous year. The port expects to double the liquid cargo handled by it in the next financial year. According to port officials, JNPT is expected to handle 4.8 million tonnes POL traffic by 1999-2000. The traffic is projected to increase to seven million tonnes by 2006.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.