Malom oil depot Completion date extended to Dec
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 30 2015: The date for commissioning the oil depot being developed at Malom under Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has been extended to December this year.

Major portions of the oil depot construction work have been completed in accordance to the oil industry safety norms.

It is only awaiting mechanical completion, informed an official source.

Notably, the capacity of the oil depot being developed at Malom is much larger than the IOC's Chingmeirong depot.

Moreover, the Malom depot would be fed by railway.

As such, it is expected that Malom depot would do away with the chronic problem of fuel shortage of times of prolonged bandhs/blockades.

The depot would have three separate units for petrol, diesel and SK Oil and its total capacity is 22000 Kilolitres.

Its storage capacity would be 5124 Kls for petrol, 11796 for diesel and 5055 for SK Oil.

On the other hand, the total capacity of the Chingmeirong depot is 6709 Kls including 850 Kls for petrol, 3341 Kls for diesel and 2528 Kls for SK Oil.

Although the Malom depot was constructed as a rail-fed depot, the depot would be commissioned as a road-fed depot until there is railway connectivity up to Imphal.

Earlier it was planned for the Oil Industry Safety Director to inspect the depot within the month of July and declare its mechanical completion within the same month.

It was also planned to commission the depot in September after due declaration of mechanical completion.

But all those plans have been scrapped as there was delays in the construction work on account of the State's law and order situation.

Nonetheless, the Oil Industry Safety Director would come to Imphal in the first week of August to check if there are any flaws or lapses in the depot.

The Director needs to be very critical in his/her assessment as oil depots are naturally highly inflammable.

Mechanical completion may be declared in September only after it has been confirmed that the depot has no flaws or lapses.

The depot would be put on trial in November after declaration of mechanical completion and if the trial goes off smoothly, the depot would be commissioned in December, informed the source.

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