Jamnagar jetty extension planned by Reliance
Reliance wants to expand its product jetty at Jamnagar at an estimated cost of Rs750cr ($123m) by adding a sixth berth to handle up to 8m t/y of liquid chemicals and petrochemical products.
Last year Reliance proposed building a second 4.2-km jetty but was denied environmental clearance and on July 14 this year presented its new scaled-down scheme to use 31 piles and simply extend the current jetty to the environment ministry. Environmental clearances typically take six to seven months after which Reliance will issue tenders with a view to commission the project after another two years or by end-2017.
Reliance had earlier hoped to commission the new jetty facilities by August 2015. When ready, the additional planned berth will handle 180 vessels a year of lengths ranging from 105 metres to 228 metres.
It will include a separate operating platform and a new 650 metre trestle, which will carry the product and utility pipelines parallel to the established product pipelines. “Jamnagar’s established jetty is overutilised,” says an energy consultant.
“Especially considering the further expansion of the refinery and petrochemical plant that is already underway.” Reliance runs the risk of paying heavy demurrage charges to keep vessels waiting if there is no room to berth them.