By Nidhi Verma and Mohi Narayan
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s Reliance Industries, operator of world’s biggest refining complex, has resumed vessel operations at the port of Sikka in Jamnagar, Gujarat, industry sources said, as the coastline recovered from the impact of cyclone Biparjoy.
“Any vessel calling the Sikka Ports & Terminals Ltd (STPL) can enter the Gulf of Kutch,” sources who received a notice from the company said.
The company had restricted entry of vessels at the port last week “due to unavailability anchorage position.”
At least 13-21 tankers were waiting to discharge crude oil at port, an industry source said and ship-tracking data showed on Monday.
The company did not immediately respond to request for a comment.
Several ports in Gujarat had suspended cargo operations last week due to unsafe weather conditions at sea.
About 2.74 million metric tons (20.12 million barrels) onboard 21 oil tankers were waiting to discharge, one of the sources said, while Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed 12.87 million barrels onboard 13 tankers were waiting to unload at Sikka port.
Meanwhile, the Astro Chloe discharged 1.9 million barrels of crude oil on Sunday at the port of Vadinar, the source added and Kpler data showed.
Gujarati ports including Pipavav Port and Kandla Port said they had resumed operations on Saturday.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Mohi Narayan, Editing by Louise Heavens)
