No impact on output at BPCL Kochi refinery

BPCL’s Kochi refinery suffered as crude supply was delayed due to the floods in the state but it ensured output would not be disrupted going ahead as it had 8-10 days of crude oil inventory available, refinery’s executive director Prasad K Panicker told ET.
After being flooded for almost a fortnight, Kerala is slowly crawling back to normal life as flood water has started to recede. Reports suggest that petrol pump stations have seen spurt in vehicles coming for refill.

“Petroleum product supplies have not been impacted, other than in some parts of Kerala during peak flooding. Now things are getting back to normal,” Panicker said.

Kochi Refinery, located at Ambalamugal near Kochi, has a crude oil refining capacity of 15.5 million tonnes per annum (MMTPA). The refinery had to stop unloading from a crude tanker as the sea swelled and other vessels could not be brought in either. An executive from the refinery said while the main unit did not get inundated, the water pumping plant was flooded and the substation went under water. The refinery sourced water from alternate sources using dieseldriven pumps then. “There was no flood at the refinery and we are running at 100% capacity. Our operations were not impacted. Supplies were initially disrupted because road and rail movement were disrupted but it is getting back to normalcy now,” Panicker said.