GMR awards fuel farm ops contract to Reliance

GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), which is developing a greenfield international airport in Hyderabad, has awarded fuel farm operations contract to Reliance Industries (RIL). The contract is valid for seven years and can be further extended on mutual agreement. 

RIL has been selected from among major oil companies like IOC, Sky Tanking, BPCL, ONGC, Swissport and World Fuel Services through a competitive bidding process, T Srinagesh, COO of GHIAL, said here today. He, however, declined to disclose the value of the contract stating that the cost of fuel supply is being estimated.

As per the contract, GHIAL is setting up an open access model fuel farm consisting of three storage tanks each with a capacity of 4,500 kilolitres of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and hydrant at the new airport premises for supply of fuel to aircrafts. RIL, in turn, will operate and maintain the farm as well as provide "into-aircraft" service. 
 
Srinagesh expects operation of over 200 aircrafts daily to and from the new international airport when it opens in March 2008. Hence, a sale of more than 3 lakh kilolitres of ATF per annum has been envisaged. The annual passenger turnout is expected to be about 8 million to begin with.

According to GHIAL, the open access model is the first of its kind in India and has been successfully deployed in major international airports abroad. Under the model, any oil company can supply fuel to airlines as per the agreement entered into with the latter. Consequently, there will be increased competition among oil companies for supply of fuel leading to enhanced service and competitive pricing. The airlines will also have the choice of fuel suppliers.