First Kochi LNG tank roof raised
Petronet-LNG has successfully ‘roofed’ the first of two onshore 185,000 cubic metre capacity LNG storage tanks under construction at Puthuvypeen Island, site of its soon-to-be-ready 2.5m t/y LNG terminal near Kochi.
PETROWATCH learns the metal roof was raised on April 29, as scheduled, with outgoing Petronet-LNG managing director Prosad Dasgupta in attendance. With an 80-metre diameter and weighing 400 tonnes, the roof was assembled on site over 45 days and raised using air pressure to 90 metres height in just four hours to close the tank.
It will be fixed to the tank walls using a thick layer of concrete. Work has also begun on the tank’s flooring and insulation.
Moves to begin raising the terminal’s second tank roof could begin this month. “Hopefully there will be a long dry spell soon,” we hear, “or it will happen when the monsoon ends.
” Each roof takes between 45 and 60 days to be assembled. Kochi’s LNG terminal is on schedule to be commissioned in early 2012.