Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) has let contracts to Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) for work related to HPCL’s previously announced project to expand and modernize its 8.3 million-tonne/year Vishakapatnam (Visakh) refinery in Andhra Pradesh, on the country’s eastern coast (OGJ Online, Jan. 19, 2016).
Under the first contract, EIL will provide project management consultancy (PMC) services for major processing units, as well as related utilities and off sites (U&O), to be added during the refinery’s expansion and upgrading program, the service provider said in filings to India’s BSE Ltd. and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.
As part of a second contract, EIL will deliver project execution services for the U&O installations and the proposed revamp of the refinery’s existing propylene recovery unit (PRU).
With a combined value of more than 25 billion rupees, the two contracts stipulate a total project schedule of 43 months until mechanical completion, EIL said.
The service company, however, did not disclose a specific timeline for when it plans to begin its scope of work under the contracts.
Project overview
Involving the addition of new units and upgrades to existing ones, HPCL’s Visakh refinery modernization project (VRMP) intends to expand the refinery’s processing capacity by 6.7 million tpy to 15 million tpy, as well as boost its production of low-sulfur fuels conforming to Euro 4 and Euro 5-quality standards.
According to EFCC, HPCL’s VRMP will include the following:
• A 9 million-tpy crude distillation unit (CDU), which will replace one of Visakh’s three existing CDUs.
• A 3.3 million-tpy full-conversion, vacuum gas oil hydrocracker.
• A 292,000-tpy naphtha isomerization unit.
• A 3.1 million-tpy solvent deasphalting unit.
• A 2.5 million-tpy slurry hydrocracker.
• A 96-tonne/day PRU (to replace the refinery’s existing 216-tonne/day PRU).
• Two 113,000-tpy hydrogen generation units (226,000 tpy total).
• Two 360-tonne/day sulfur recovery units (720 tonnes/day total, including tail gas treatment).
• A 36,000-tpy fuel gas pressure-swing adsorption unit.
• A 300-tonne/hr nonhydroprocessing sour-water stripper.
• A 185-tonne/hr hydroprocessing sour-water stripper.
• Two 540-tonne/hr amine regeneration units (1,080 tonnes/hr total).
• A 112,000-tpy sulfur recovery LPG treating unit.
• A 1,000-cu m/hr integrated effluent treatment plant (EFP), which will replace all existing EFPs at the site.
According to the latest project information available from HPCL and EIL, major processing units at the refinery are scheduled for revamp as follows:
• A 30% capacity expansion of the naphtha hydrotreater in the refinery’s Motor Spirit block (MS) block to 1.5 million tpy.
• A 35% capacity expansion of the continuous catalytic reforming unit in the MS block to 1.04 million tpy.
• A 30% capacity expansion of the diesel hydrotreating unit to 2.86 million tpy.
• An upgrade of the naphtha hydrotreater downstream of the refinery’s fluid catalytic cracker to enable output of Bharat Stage (BS) V and BS VI-grade (equivalent to Euro 5 and Euro 6-quality) fuels.
VRPM will require an estimated total capital investment of about 208 billion rupees to complete in its entirety, HPCL said in a late August 2016 presentation to investors.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
