KARACHI: Pakistan is taking steps to reconstruct and redesign its existing oil import handling facilities to accommodate increasing loads of bulk liquid cargo, after two oil terminals at Karachi port stopped working, officials said.
Pakistan has three multipurpose oil import terminals, Oil Pier-I, Oil Pier-2 and Oil Pier-3, out of which two have been rendered non-functional.
Currently, Oil Pier-2 is the only operational terminal.
“A German firm which has been given contract for the redesigning of OP-I will submit its report by end of March or in early April 2020,” Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar, Chairman of Karachi Port Trust (KPT), a government body that manages port affairs, told Arab News on Sunday.
“The firm... will give proposals and different financial options and merits and demerits of the projects and we will move accordingly to manage the funding,” he said and added: “Generally speaking, reconstruction of an oil pier...costs between $60-100 million.”
Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), an independent organization representing five refineries, 28 oil marketing companies and a Pipeline Company, on Thursday drew the attention of the federal government through a letter that warned of a looming energy crisis if the facilities were not repaired.
“It is pertinent to mention that around 65% of petroleum products of import vessels including crude oil were handled at Karachi Port through Oil Pier-1 and 2 in the financial year 2018-19, which translated into around 12 million tons per year or 23 vessels per month,” the OCAC letter dated Dec. 19 said, and warned of a wide shortage of petroleum products in the days and weeks ahead.
It also said that Oil Pier-1, if completely reconstructed could take more than two years to build. Oil Pier-3, it added, would not be operationally ready until seven to eight months after the awarding of a new tender in January next year.
“There is the need to reconstruct the oil piers,” Akhtar said, but denied that the country was on the brink of a crisis in the absence of the two oil facilities.
“We are working to replace the fenders of Oil Pier-1, which will be completed within the next three to four weeks. At present, we are managing through enhanced discharge rate from the vessels. The situation will be normal,” he said.
As KPT moves to repair the oil terminals, authorities say they have other options in case a crisis arises.
“We have emergency pipes we can lay down on other jetties and connect them with the oil pipelines and discharge the oil. There is no issue at least from my point of view,” the KPT chairman said.
During the last fiscal year, 504 oil tankers docked at the KPT to discharge 12.38 million tons of cargo, according to OCAC data.
The OCAC fears that in the present situation, where only one terminal is operational, the inflow of liquid cargo in scheduled time will be impossible to handle. Maritime ministry officials said steps to ensure the uninterrupted import of oil have already been taken.
“This is not a panic-like situation. Steps have already been taken to fix the fenders of Oil Pier-1. We can also used other berths in case of an emergency,” Mahmood Moulvi, an adviser at the maritime affairs ministry, told Arab News.
Traditionally, KPT has been constructing berths but “now we are re-looking at it and working on terminalization,” the KPT chief said.
Pakistan to revamp oil infrastructure in face of energy crisis
https://arab.news/gsvvr
Pakistan to revamp oil infrastructure in face of energy crisis
- KPT has three multipurpose oil import terminals, of which only one is presently working
- Reconstruction of an oil terminal costs around $100 million, says KPT Chairman
Death toll in Karachi mall fire rises to 73 after two more bodies recovered — rescue service
- Authorities have yet to confirm the cause of the fire at Gul Plaza which housed around 1,200 shops
- The identification process has been slowed by the condition of the remains recovered from the site
KARACHI: The death toll from a devastating fire at a shopping mall in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi climbed to 73 on Sunday, the Edhi rescue service said, following the recovery of the remains of two more persons.
The development came as rescuers and volunteers continued to comb through the debris at Gul Plaza, a densely packed commercial complex in the heart of Karachi where a deadly fire erupted on Jan. 17, for remains of the victims.
Over the past week, family members of more than a dozen missing persons have stayed near the destroyed plaza and hospital even after providing their DNA samples for testing, with some relatives also criticizing authorities for the slow pace of rescue efforts.
“The death toll in the Gul Plaza tragedy has reached 73,” the Edhi rescue service said in a statement on Sunday night. “The remains of two more bodies were shifted to the Edhi morgue today.”
There was no official comment on the increase in death toll.
“We have processed 71 sets of remains, of which 20 have been identified,” Chief Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed said on Friday.
The identification process has been significantly slowed by the condition of the remains recovered from the site, according to Syed. Many bodies were found in fragments, complicating DNA analysis and prolonging the process for families waiting for confirmation.
Authorities have yet to confirm the cause of the fire at the building, which housed around 1,200 shops. Traders say the blaze caused more than $53 million losses.
Fires are common in Karachi’s markets and factories, which are known for their poor infrastructure, but a blaze on such a scale is rare.
The provincial government has announced that it will give Rs10 million ($35,720) to each family of the deceased. All 1,200 shopkeepers will also be compensated.
