India approves Numaligarh refinery expansion project

Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. (NRL), a group company of Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., has received clearance to proceed with the long-planned expansion of its 60,250-b/d Numaligarh refinery in the Golaghat district of Assam in far-northeastern India (OGJ Online, Aug. 13, 2014; Sept. 21, 2012).

India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Jan. 16 approved the 225.94 billion-rupee project, which intends to expand crude processing capacity at the refinery by 120,500 b/d to 180,750 b/d, NRL said.

Alongside the capacity expansion—which will take 48 months to complete from the start of construction—the project also will include construction of a 180,750-b/d, 1,398-km crude pipeline from Paradip to Numaligarh, as well as a 120,500-b/d, 654-km products pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri, the operator said.

Cabinet approval of the project provides for granting of a capital subsidy of about 10.2 billion rupees and continuation of a 50% excise-duty benefit for a period of 15 years following project commissioning.

Part of India’s Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for the North-East, which aims to double oil and gas production by 2030, the proposed capacity expansion and pipelines project aims to help meet growing demand of petroleum products in northeastern India, ensure secure crude feedstock supplies to all four state-owned refineries in Assam, and enhance product exports to India’s geographically contiguous neighbors, namely Myanmar, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, NRL said.

NRL’s owners are state-owned BPCL 61.65%, Oil India Ltd. 26%, and the government of Assam 12.35%.

Project processing overview

According to a detailed feasibility study for the refinery’s expansion completed by Engineers India Ltd. in March 2014, the project would add the following major capacities:

• Combined crude-vacuum distillation, naphtha splitting; 120,500 b/d.

• Naphtha hydrotreating; 19,480 b/d.

• Continuous catalytic reforming; 12,290 b/d.

• Naphtha isomerization; 6,990 b/d.

• Diesel hydrotreating; 58,160 b/d.

• Full-conversion hydrocracking; 39,920 b/d.

• Delayed coking; 22,970 b/d.

• Solvent deasphalting; 15,160 b/d.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].