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China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB) has started surveying the pipeline routes to initiate construction of the country's first single-point mooring (SPM) system and associated facilities, said officials.
The contractor hired a survey ship from Singapore to carry out the job, removing confusion over the delay in project implementation, they added.
They further said the uncertainty over arranging necessary fund for the project was also removed with the latest initiative taken by the Chinese government. It will provide 79 per cent of the total fund through Chinese EXIM Bank.
The SPM project, which helps carrying petroleum from vessels far offshore to an onshore terminal, is important to reduce the country's overall oil import cost and facilitate quick transportation.
The government awarded the project with double pipeline to CPPB as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor through inking of the final deal on December 08, 2016. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2020.
Of the total project cost of Tk 54.26 billion (US$ 695.64 million), the Chinese government will arrange 79 per cent while Tk 10.21 billion would be arranged by the government of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will provide Tk 1.11 billion.
The SPM system with double pipelines will be developed in Sonadia Island -- deep into the Bay of Bengal -- where large oil tankers will anchor.
It would have the capacity to unload around 9.0 million tonnes of petroleum products annually. The SPM would be able to unload 120,000 tonnes of crude oil within 48 hours and 70,000 tonnes of diesel within 28 hours.
Two 36-inch diameters and 16-km pipelines will be built to carry both crude and gasoil separately from the SPM to the storage facilities at Matarbari of Moheshkhali island in the Bay.
Nine-km of the 36-inch diameters pipelines will be in the Bay and the remaining seven-km on shore.
Two 18-inch diameter 94-km pipelines will be built to carry both crude and gasoil separately from the storage facilities of Matartbari to storage facilities in Chittagong shore.
Some 64-km of the 18-inch diameter pipelines would be inside the Bay and the remaining 30-km on shore.
Three new 50,000 cubic metres capacity crude oil storages and three new 30,000 cubic metres gasoil storages would be built at Moheshkhali island.
A new pumping station would be built on the island to pump the fuel to shore.
Currently, the large tankers anchor in deep sea and smaller ships unload and bring the oil to storage facilities of the Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL).
The pipeline is estimated to help save the government Tk 10 billion annually, said an official.
BPC currently pays $5.50 per tonne to small vessels owned by state-owned Bangladesh Shipping Corporation to ferry the petroleum to shore from larger ocean-going vessels.
The SPM will save BPC around $8 per tonne by eliminating the vessel transfers, a BPC official said. It will also shorten the unloading time to two-three days from the current 11-12 days.
Bangladesh annually imports around 6.0 million tonnes of crude and refined oil combined -- around 1.3 million tonnes crude oil and the remaining refined petroleum products.