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    Chennai Petroleum commissions RUP project at Manali refinery

    Feb. 28, 2018
    Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd., a partly owned subsidiary of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., has fully started up its long-planned residue upgradation project (RUP) at its 10.5 million-tonne/year Manali refinery in Tamil Nadu, India. 

    Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd., a partly owned subsidiary of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., has fully started up its long-planned residue upgradation project (RUP) at its 10.5 million-tonne/year Manali refinery in Tamil Nadu, India (OGJ Online, Aug. 14, 2013).

    CPCL held a dedication ceremony on Feb. 27 for the newly commissioned RUP, which alongside helping to improve the company’s profitability, comes as a major step in increasing production of much-needed petroleum products to meet ever-increasing energy needs of Tamil Nadu, the operator said.

    Estimated at a final cost of 31.1 billion rupees and designed to increase distillate yields as well as maximize processing of high-sulfur, heavy crudes, the RUP at Manali involved:

    • Installation of secondary processing units, including a 2.2 million-tpy delayed coker (mechanically completed in February 2017) and a sulfur recovery unit.

    • Revamp of a once-through 1.85 million-tpy hydrocracker (commissioned in March 2017).

    • Installation of unidentified associated utilities and off-site facilities.

    In addition to the recently completed RUP, CPCL is executing other ongoing projects at Manali, including:

    • A 2.58-billion rupee crude oil pipeline with additional safety features to replace an existing 30-in. pipeline running from Chennai Port to the refinery, which is scheduled for mechanical completion by February 2018.

    • A 3.67-billion rupee revamp of the refinery’s existing 1.8 million-tpy diesel hydrodesulfurization unit to a capacity of 2.34 million tpy to enable production of diesel meeting Bharat Stage (BS)-4 (equivalent to Euro 4-quality standards), for which all major equipment has been received and installed.

    • A BS-6 auto fuels quality project involving the revamp of the refinery’s existing 1.8 million-tpy diesel hydrotreating unit to a capacity of 2.4 million tpy—as well as the addition of a sulfur recovery unit and other associated installations, including a 600,000-tpy FCC gasoline desulfurization unit—to be mechanically completed by June 2019 to help ensure the refinery’s production of diesel and gasoline meets the Indian government’s directive of 100% BS-6 quality fuels for the country from Apr. 1, 2020.

    Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].

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