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Mott MacDonald, a global management, engineering and development consultancy, says it has successfully delivered India’s largest fully automated terminal exclusively for black oil products on behalf of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL).

The consultancy provided design, engineering, procurement, project and construction management services from conceptual stage, through to handing over the entire facility to HPCL in 15 months. The design allows for further expansion of the nearby Visakha refinery to produce EURO IV grade fuel, a diesel with substantially lowered sulphur content.

The facility in Vishakhapatnam, India, is equipped with state of the art automation systems comprising a terminal automation system (TAS) which interfaces with a tank farm management system, emergency shutdown system and fire alarm system.

The TAS is configured for providing optimum truck loading efficiency by using variable frequency drive pumps, as well generating automatic reports and comprehensive alarm management.

The facility has triple offset butterfly valves installed for increased efficiency coupled with cost benefits. Automation of steam and heat tracing for energy conservation has also been used in India for the first time. The terminal will handle 11 petroleum products ranging from various grades of furnace oil to jute batching oil.

The new facility is spread over an area of 154,000 sq metres and has a product storage capacity of 94,000 cubic metres. Petroleum products are received by the new terminal through pipelines from the Visakha refinery as well as from oil jetties. There are also loading facilities for product distribution by road, rail and sea.

"The terminal is the first site in India with the ability to blend products according to customer needs. This will establish the Vishakhapatnam facility as the eastern hub for the oil and gas industries," Mott MacDonald said.

Vijay Sheth, Mott MacDonald project director commented, "Mott MacDonald has an excellent track record in helping to deliver oil and gas projects around the world and this is another demonstration of our world class skills. The project was completed in record time and 11 million safe man hours have been worked without a lost time accident which is another remarkable achievement."