Indian Oil lets contract for Barauni refinery expansion

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC) has let a contract to Larsen & Toubro Ltd. subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) to revamp a major processing unit as part of IOC’s project to increase crude oil processing capacity at its 6-million tonne/year (tpy) Barauni refinery in Begusarai District, Bihar (OGJ Online, Aug. 6, 2021).

As part of the Jan. 5 contract, LTHE will deliver detailed engineering as well as supply critical equipment and components for the modification, revamp, and upgrade of the refinery’s existing residue fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit, Larsen & Toubro said in a release to investors.

Alongside increasing capacity of the unit, LTHE’s scope of work on the project will include conversion of the RFCC into an INDMAX FCC unit that will process a feedstock of hydrotreated and straight-run residue into propylene, which in turn will be used for production of polypropylene in a downstream petrochemical unit at the refinery, according to the service provider.

While Larsen & Toubro—which valued the contract at between 10-25 billion rupees—did not reveal a post-revamp capacity of converted INDMAX FCC, IOC previously told the government of India the Barauni expansion would involve expanding capacity of the refinery’s existing 1.4-million tpy RFCC to 1.7 million tpy (OGJ Online, Apr. 8, 2020).

The entirety of the Barauni crude processing capacity expansion currently remains on schedule for commissioning by April 2023 at an overall cost of 148 billion rupees, IOC most recently told investors.