HPCL lets contract for major crude unit at Visakh refinery

Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) has let a contract to Larsen & Toubro Ltd. subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd. (LTHE) to provide engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) for major processing units to be added as part of HPCL’s previously announced program to expand and modernize its 8.3 million-tonne/year Vishakhapatnam (Visakh) refinery in Andhra Pradesh on India’s southeastern coast (OGJ Online, Mar. 21, 2017).

As part of the contract, LTHE will deliver EPCC services for a crude distillation unit (CDU) and vacuum distillation unit (VDU) that will have a combined nameplate capacity of 9 million tpy, Larsen & Tourbo said.

While it disclosed neither a timeframe nor specific value of the HPCL order, Larsen & Tourbo did confirm the HPCL contract alongside a separate order involving an extension to an unidentified ongoing contract for Reliance Industries Ltd.’s integrated 60 million-tpy refining and petrochemical complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, India, totaled about 21 billion rupees.

This latest contract for HPCL’s Visakh refinery modernization project (VRMP) follows the operator’s previous contract award to LTHE for delivery of EPCC services on a 3.053 million-tpy full-conversion hydrocracker to be added as part of the project (OGJ Online, Dec. 8, 2017).

Visakh revamp, expansion

Involving the addition of new units and upgrades to existing ones, HPCL’s 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 (OGJ Online, Jan. 16, 2017; Jan. 19, 2016).

According to India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, HPCL’s proposed 209.3 billion-rupee VRMP originally was to add the following units at the refinery:

• A 9 million-tpy CDU-VDU, 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, which will replace an 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 general contractor Engineers India Ltd., 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 (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 BS V and BS VI-grade (equivalent to Euro 5 and Euro 6-quality) fuels.

The VRMP currently scheduled for mechanical completion in July 2020, according to HPCL’s web site.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].