HPCL tenders for Barmer refinery licensors
Hindustan Petroleum is preparing to issue the first tenders to select technology providers for its proposed 9m t/y Barmer refinery in Rajasthan, a clear sign the long-delayed project is going ahead.
By mid-May, HPCL should issue four tenders for the Rs37,230cr ($6.2bn) refinery and petrochemical complex. “We’ll issue tenders for the steam cracker (at the hydrogen unit), the Fluidised Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU), the Crude and Vacuum Distillation Units (CDU, VDU) and the Atmospheric Residue Desulphurisation Unit (ARDS),” says a company source.
Likely bidders for the steam cracker include Haldor Topsoe and Technip KT India. Bidders for the FCCU could include UOP, Stone & Webster, ExxonMobil and Shell.
“For the CDU-VDU, there could be about 10 bidders including Engineers India, UOP, ABB Lummus, Axens, and Chevron,” says a source. He adds only three or four technology providers worldwide provide ARDS technology, among them UOP and Chevron Lummus Global.
HPCL should award contracts six months after issuing tenders. “While these licensors (technology providers) are being finalised,” we hear, “we’ll issue tenders for licensors for other process units.
” HPCL adds soil surveys and other work is on at the 4800-acre site of the proposed refinery at Pachpadra in Rajasthan. Separately, Barmer project consultant Engineers India has postponed to May 28 the deadline for bids to build a boundary wall around the project.
The deadline for bids to build a boundary wall around the township has been extended to May 29.