Two LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) tankers, including one from Iran, are discharging cargo at New Mangalore Port, and another is expected in the middle of next week.
LPG tanker Aurora (formerly Sea Bird), which brought 43910 tonnes of LPG cargo from the Asaluyeh port in Iran, has been discharging the cargo at the port. Around 34491 tonnes of LPG cargo remained to be discharged as of April 4.
India recently bought its first LPG cargo from Iran after the US temporarily eased sanctions on Iran’s petroleum exports. India had stopped energy purchases from Iran in 2019 due to sanctions.
Another LPG tanker, Al Ain, has unloaded 7,692 tonnes of cargo at the port. Around 11908 tonnes of cargo remained undischarged as of April 4. The tanker left Yanbu Industrial Port in Saudi Arabia on March 19.
An LPG tanker, Jag Vasant, with 9,500 tonnes of cargo, is expected to reach New Mangalore Port on April 8.
Crude oil
The oil tanker Gabon Prosperity, carrying 2.75 lakh tonnes of crude oil, is expected to reach New Mangalore Port on April 5. The tanker left the port of Al Muajjiz in Saudi Arabia on March 27. The cargo is expected to be unloaded at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd’s (MRPL) single point mooring (SPM) facility under the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA).
Another oil tanker, New Legend, carrying 1.24 lakh tonnes of crude oil, is expected to reach New Mangalore on April 7. The oil tanker New Legend left the port of Ust-Luga in the Baltic Sea of Russia on March 7.
Meanwhile, the crude oil tanker Lila Jamnagar is waiting at the anchorage to load 2.70 lakh tonnes of crude oil from the SPM facility. Sources in the shipping sector said that Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of the UAE will draw this cargo from Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd’s (ISPRL) Mangaluru cavern for coastal transportation to Paradip port.
An agreement between ISPRL and ADNOC, signed in February 2018, allowed ADNOC to store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil at ISPRL’s Mangaluru facility at ADNOC’s own cost. Sources said ADNOC will load another 1.45 lakh tonnes of crude oil cargo from ISPRL on the oil tanker New Liberty for coastal transportation in the coming days.