As part of its modernisation drive, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has constructed a Rs.330-crore greenfield oil terminal at Ennore.
This will not only enable it to move petroleum products from Ennore Port to its terminal seamlessly through dedicated pipelines, but also decongest the Tondiarpet area in north Chennai.
The new oil terminal is expected to start functioning soon. Talking to The Hindu, Y.V.N. Sarma, DGM - Ennore Project, HPCL Chennai New Terminal, said the current HPCL terminal was located on 15 acres of land having a tankage of 50,000 KL at Tondiarpet. HPCL had decided to discontinue its operations there and move POL products (petroleum, oil and lubricants) to Ennore in a phased manner.
The new facility is located on 108 acres land belonging to the Salt Department on North Chennai Thermal Power Station Road, Ennore.
Currently, HPCL sources its petroleum products from Coastal Tanker Vessels that get berthed at Chennai Port and through inputs from CPCL refinery at Manali. Thereafter, petroleum products are sent to the respective HPCL retail outlets.
Started in May 2009, the new project envisaged setting up of facilities such as tankages, tank truck loading facility, tank wagon loading and receipt facility along with product receipt facilities from the Ennore Port and CPCL. The tank farm and tank truck loading operations will be fully automated. Civil works of tankages, buildings and structures, pipelines, electrical, automation, railway siding have been completed.
Three pipe lines each spanning seven km have been laid from the Ennore Port to HPCL terminal. It includes 20 inches for High Speed Diesel (HSD), 16 inches for motor spirit (MS) and superior kerosene oil (SKO) respectively. Thereafter, tankers would be used for moving diesel MS, HSD and SKO to eight districts – Chennai, Tiruvallur, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Puducherry and Villupuram.
The new terminal has 20 above ground tanks with total capacity 1,40,000 KL for storage and dispatch of products of 4 x 10,000 KL (MS), 6 x 10,000 KL (HSD), 4x 5,000 KL (SKO) and 4 x 5,000 KL Aviation Turbine Fuel.
According to Mr. Sarma, the construction of the oil terminal was completed in 30 months . It has road, rail and port connectivity to facilitate receipt and despatch of petroleum products from Ennore Port to various locations in Tamil Nadu.
