CPCL's proposal on crude oil pipeline deferred
Chennai   29-Oct-2011

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has accepted the Expert Appraisal Committee's recommendation to defer the proposal of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited to lay a new crude oil pipeline from Chennai port to its refinery in suburban Manali.

It advised CPCL to work out an alternative route along with safety aspects and a fresh proposal may be submitted to it along with recommendations of the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority.

A copy of the letter to CPCL, available on the Ministry's website, said: “Accordingly, the present proposal is closed and de-listed from the pending list of the Ministry and the fresh proposal shall be considered as per the CRZ Notification 2011.”

CPCL had sought CRZ clearance for the project – to lay a new 42 inch pipeline to replace a 30 inch pipeline.

According to minutes of the Committee's meeting on October 17 and 18, the proposal was examined at the Committee meetings in January and April 2010 and May this year.

It also considered “numerous complaints from Kasimedu Fishermen's Development Association. The main allegation was that the pipeline is passing through the thickly habitation areas…”

The committee noted that as per the alignment two stretches were close to habitation and CPCL shall consider alternative route to keep maximum distance between the habitation and pipeline.

Additional safety measures

The committee suggested that additional safety measures should be considered for these stretches and a public hearing may be conducted.

The proposal for a new pipeline was conceived by CPCL, a group company of IndianOil, in 2005. At the company's AGM last month, CPCL chairman R.S.Butola said the project is estimated to cost Rs.126 crore. Apart from increasing reliability, it would enhance the discharge rate from the oil tankers, thereby significantly minimising the tanker detention period and demurrage cost, he said.

CPCL managing director K.Balachandran told The Hindu on Thursday that the road along which the pipeline was planned was being expanded.

The alignment of the pipeline would be away from the margin of the new road, along the seashore. While most of the habitations have been removed as part of the ongoing expansion of the road, the remaining were unauthorised.

To a query, he said that it took almost five years for the rehabilitation of the residents for the road expansion project.

Beneficial to expansion

The cost of the pipeline project in 2005 was Rs.65 crore. He said the proposed facility would be beneficial for the company's plan to expand the capacity of the refinery by 6 million tonne by 2016.

Noting that the refinery expansion plans were progressing as planned, he said the company may revive its proposal to construct a single buoy mooring (SBM) at the Ennore port to receive crude supplies.