Kerala - Kochi   

Work on laying sub-sea pipeline completed

Staff Reporter

It is A major breakthrough for Kochi Refinery

KOCHI: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL)-Kochi Refinery has completed laying 19.4 km of sub-sea pipes off the Puthuvype coast to link the single point mooring (SPM) crude oil reception facility to the tank farm located on the shore.

The welding and laying of 1,600, 48-inch pipes, weighing 25 tonnes each, was a challenging task. Leighton Contractors Ltd., an Indo-Malaysian joint venture, carried out the work on the single buoy mooring facility.

A communication from the company said here that the buoy, weighing 280 tonnes had been despatched from Batam in Singapore where it was fabricated. It is expected to reach Kochi next week.

Cost reduction

The SPM is a hi-tech crude oil reception facility that will enable the company to receive very large capacity tankers at an offshore location to reduce the cost of transportation significantly. The pipeline includes stretches on Vypeen Island and Ernakulam mainland, besides backwater crossings.

BPCL-Kochi Refinery will deploy the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) method for laying the pipeline for the SPM project between the Iyyattil junction and Park Avenue Road cutting across M.G. Road and Hospital Road.

The HDD method is an automated process of laying pipeline by drilling at a depth of between 25 and 30 metres without damaging the surface. BPCL had deployed the method successfully at four stretches in the backwater crossing of the pipeline between Vypeen and Ernakulam city.

The HDD method will help avoid traffic diversions and speed up the work. The pipe laying is expected to be over before the rains.

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