BPCL opens CBG price bids
Punjab-based CEID Consultants and Engineering has bid the lowest to set up a 150 t/d Compressed Biogas (CBG) plant for Bharat Petroleum near its 15.5m t/y Kochi refinery in Kerala.
Last month (February 2024), BPCL opened price bids to set up the CBG plant at the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant in Kochi. CEID quoted Rs119.19cr ($14.4m), and Karnataka-based GPS Renewables came second, submitting a much higher quote of Rs173.22cr ($20.9m).
"CEID is a well-known name in the biogas industry," we hear. CEID has set up several bio-gas plants, including India's biggest sewage waste-based biogas plant in Ahmedabad for biotech company Rockstone Infrastructure, generating 20,000 cm/d.
BPCL invited offers on January 4 (2024) with a February 5 (2024) bid deadline. Delhi-based Hindustan Merchants also responded, but its technical bid failed to qualify.
On November 22 (2023), the Kerala cabinet approved the Rs150cr ($18m) proposed plant, and the Kochi Corporation Council decided to hand over 10 acres to BPCL free of charge on February 29 (2024). A tripartite agreement between the Kerala state government, the Kochi Corporation, and BPCL to set up the facility will be signed shortly.
BPCL will receive the right to run the plant and hold the land for 25 years, extendable by another ten years. Expect the new CBG facility to run by 2025, producing eco-friendly CBG for refinery applications such as boilers and heaters.
Any surplus gas produced can be sold to local gas retailers for use in factories or as CNG for cars. On September 14 (2023), BPCL hired Ahmedabad-based Airox Nigen Equipments as the project consultant under a Rs3.42cr ($410,500) contract.