No limitations: Byco builds Pakistan’s first offshore port

Facility allows gas and oil carriers to offload cargo mid-sea.

KARACHI: Byco Terminals Pakistan Limited has achieved mechanical completion of the country’s first Single Point Mooring (SPM) buoy facility that will allow transport of crude oil and other petroleum products from ships through an open sea anchorage with pipelines connecting it to the on-shore facilities.

Presently, the petroleum products are imported through Karachi and Bin Qasim ports. As both these ports have a draft limitation therefore they cannot accommodate large ships, says a statement released by the company on Wednesday.

The company completed the mechanical phase in collaboration with China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, a world renowned port facility development company, for offloading imported crude oil and petroleum products.

The SPM has been set up in the North Arabian Sea at a distance of approximately 14 kilometres from the Byco’s Mouzakund site located at Hub, Balochistan. The facility is strategically located to feed the two Byco refineries apart from acting as an alternate strategic port in case such a requirement arises. The design of the SPM caters for an additional pipeline for import and export of petroleum products.

The SPM facility with a draft of more than 25 metres will allow mooring of larger crude and product carriers, which will not only result into lower administrative costs but will bring in substantial savings on account of difference in freight charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2012.