Pipeline glitch: Oil transportation halted after 5-hr trial of single-point mooring project

The trial operation of crude oil transportation through single-point mooring (SPM) from the mother vessel anchored at deep sea in Cox's Bazar's Maheshkhali area has been stopped due to glitches in the pipelines.

The oil transportation started at 10:30am on 3 July. After just five hours, a glitch occurred in the pipeline connecting the ship to the SPM leading to a halt in oil transport to the refinery.

According to Eastern Refinery Limited data, only 7,000/8,000 tonnes of oil transportation from the vessel had been completed prior to developing the glitches in the pipelines of the single-point mooring project. After that, the remaining oil will be transported to the refinery via lighterage vessels as usual.

Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) Managing Director Engineer Md Lokman said due to glitches in the pipeline, oil release from the vessel remained halted after five-hour of the trial run.

"The Chinese company, which is implementing the project, is working to fix the problem with the pipeline," he added.

However, the authority of the project was still able to start oil transportation by pipeline or lighterage vessels till 8 July.

The ship carrying 82,000 tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia arrived at the mooring point on 24 June night and the trial run was set to begin the following day, but bad weather forced the authorities to defer the launch to 3 July.

According to the Chattogram Port Authority, oil transportation works have remained halted till Saturday afternoon. Oil transportation by lighterage vessels from the mother vessel has not resumed yet.  

People concerned said due to the halt of oil transportation, the importing firm has to pay an additional $50,000 per day as fares for the oil-carrying vessel.   

Despite multiple phone calls, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Director (operations and planning) Khalid Ahmmed, and Secretary Mohammad Ashraf Hossain were not available to make a comment regarding the issue.

"If the trial operation of the Tk8,341-crore Single Point Mooring project to transportation of imported oil from the deep sea to the refinery through pipelines is successful, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the project in August," said the project director, engineer Md Sharif Hasnat.

Earlier, Bangladesh used to use lighter vessels to transfer imported crude oil from mother vessels to refineries, which usually takes almost 12 days and costs extra money in freight charges.