UAE-based bunker supplier, Gulf Petrochem Group has begun its bunkering operations at Pipavav port in Gujarat. The company aims to cater to its customers in Indian-sub continent.
Gulf Petrochem has its own state of the art liquid terminal with a capacity of 2,50,000 kilo litres for different classes of petroleum products such as Fuel Oil and Marine Gasoil. Presently for their bunkering business, Fuel Oil tankage capacity is around 30,000 KL at this Port, the company said.
"The group will be offering IFO 380 and MGO ex-truck fuel while gradually placing a barge of around 1,000 MT. Initially truck supplies have started from Pipavav and the group intends to cover Dahej, Hazira, Muldwarka, Bhavanagar over a period of time," it said.
“We know that the market situation is volatile, however it has always been a strategic objective of the group to be able to offer bunker supplies to our customers out of our terminal in Pipavav, which is a strategic bunkering port in the Gulf of Khambat," said Prerit Goel, director, Gulf Petrochem Group.
With Gulf Petrochem’s existing storage terminals in Fujairah and Hamriyah in the UAE and bunker barges, it will now allow the group to provide its customers with a wider portfolio of marine fuel products.
Along with its terminals in the UAE and Pipavav, the group now will be able to have a combined storage capacity of over 1 million cubic meters, which is earmarked, to grow further with an investment of US $ 50 million expansion of the groups Fujairah terminal expected to be completed by March 2017.
In February 2015, Gulf Petrochem Group announced the commissioning of the first phase of its liquid cargo storage terminal with an annual capacity of 250,000 kilo litres (KL) at Pipavav Port in Gujarat, thus easing supply and availability of petroleum, non petroleum and petrochemical cargo in the northern part of India.