EIL's petchem FEED for BPCL
Engineers India (EIL) will soon start preparing a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) report for Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) to set up a polypropylene production unit at its 15.5m t/y Kochi refinery in Kerala.
On April 8 (2024), BPCL opened price bids in a tender to hire a project consultant for the proposed 400,000 t/y polypropylene unit. EIL bid lowest at Rs160cr ($20m), followed by Technip at Rs161cr ($20.1m).
"Though the difference (between the bids) is very narrow, EIL is the clear winner," says a source who expects the LoA to be awarded before the end of this month (April 2024). Kochi Refineries will provide propylene as the raw material or feedstock for the production of petrochemical polypropylene.
EIL is also expected to bid for the EPCM role in BPCL’s planned capacity expansion of the Bina Refinery in Madhya Pradesh from 7.5m t/y to 11.5m t/y. BPCL wants bids by April 18 (2024).
At Bina, BPCL wants a new 4m t/y Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) plus the revamp of the existing CDU and Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU). Also proposed at Bina are a 100 tonne/hour amine regeneration unit, a two-stage sour water stripper of 75 tonne/hour, a 90,000 tonne/year LPG treatment unit, a 40,000 tonne/year fuek gas treatment unit; a 300,000 tonne/year bitumen blowing unit; a revamp of the existing "Once Through Hydrocracker Unit’ (OHCU) to 140% capacity or about 3.55m t/y; associated utilities and offsite facilities; and, expansion of the crude oil receiving terminal at Vadinar in Gujarat.
BPCL managing director G Krishnakumar unveiled the Rs49,000cr ($6.1bn) Bina Refinery capacity expansion and petrochemicals plans in May 2023.