Puthuvype plant to have advanced safety features

Experience gained at Ennore plant will benefit upcoming LPG facility, says official

May 28, 2018 11:59 pm | Updated 11:59 pm IST - KOCHI

Indian Oil Corporation’s upcoming LPG import and storage complex on Puthuvype island will have enhanced safety features compared to a similar facility commissioned six years ago by IOC-Petronas joint venture at Ennore near Chennai.

The facility near Chennai has had no safety issues so far, while the LPG complex at Puthyvpe will have better safety features, said S. Dhanapandian, general manager, IOC.

He told a team of visiting journalists at the Ennore site that all improvements in safety measures acquired through experience over the last six years would be incorporated into the Puthuvype LPG complex. The IOC facility near Chennai operates close to Puthunagar and Athipattu villages with a combined population of around 15,000. The complex is also located close to crucial installations like a large power generation facility as well as the trunk rail route between Chennai and Kolkata on the Coromandal coast, said Mr. Dhanapandian, who headed the IOC team that set up the facility.

The ₹540-crore Ennore facility was commissioned in July 2012. There have been no safety incidents so far at the 1.2-million-tonne-capacity facility. It supplies bulk LPG to bottling plants in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh and has helped eliminate the otherwise dangerous road transport of fuel by bullet tankers from Mangalore to Chennai. The city of Chennai requires around a lakh of domestic cylinder refills a day, said Mr. Dhanapandian, underlining the large volume of LPG transport involved in the business.

The IOC official, pointing to two accidents in Kerala this month involving LPG transport vehicles, said the Puthuvype facility would help in taking more LPG bullet tankers off the road in the State. Over the last six years, more than 72 lakh tonnes of LPG in more than 340 ships had been handled at the Ennore plant. But the Puthuvype complex is being opposed due to safety concerns, and work on the project has been stalled.

Shore protection

Meanwhile, IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and Petronet LNG, which operates the LNG terminal at Puthuvype, will spend around ₹50 crore for building several short groins as a shore protection measure. The 5-km short groins are expected to help keep the shoreline from erosion, said Mr. Dhanapandian. The short groins have been designed by scientists of IIT-Chennai.

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