Mangalore Refinery Expansion

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) is located in the city of Mangalore about 350km from Bangalore in the state of Karnataka, India. MRPL is a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and has a capacity of 9.69mmtpa. It is the only Indian refinery to have two hydrocrackers producing premium diesel and two continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) units producing unleaded petrol.

The refinery was constructed in two phases. Phase I, having a capacity of 3.69mmtpa, was completed in March 1996. Phase II was completed in September 1999 adding 6mmtpa to the refinery’s capacity.

MRPL processes 38 varieties of crude oil sourced from various locations such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, Malaysia, China and Kazakhstan. Every year the refinery processes about 12.5mtpa of crude oil to produce petrol, LPG, aviation turbine fuel (ATF), kerosene, diesel and bitumen.

Extension

MRPL is currently undergoing phase III expansion at a cost of $2.4bn. The expansion project is expected to be completed by October 2011. The foundation stone was laid in November 2009. As of December 2009, about 27.5% of the expansion work of the refinery was completed.

The expansion project was approved in July 2006 and was scheduled for completion in June 2010. Implementation was, however, delayed due to an increase in raw material costs and delays in the selection of contractors. The project aims to increase the capacity of the refinery to 15mmtpa.

The expansion plan includes construction of a propylene unit with a capacity of 450,000tpa. MRPL will invest about $383m in the propylene unit, which is expected to be completed by January 2012. A 250,000tpa Lube Oil Base Stock (LOBS) production plant will also be built to produce high-end LOBS.

The expansion project will boost the distillate yield of the refinery by 10% and will help it process high-sulphur crude oils. In addition, it will help in producing transportation fuels that conform to the Euro III/Euro IV standards. MRPL has received a loan of $1.1bn from ONGC and another $42.5m from the Oil Industry Development Board of India for executing the project. The company is planning to raise another $2.1bn through loans.

Mangalore Refinery facilities

MRPL contains Atmospheric and Vacuum Distillation Unit designed by Engineers India, and a gas oil desulphrisation unit (GOHDS). The refinery houses a hydrocracker unit and CCR units, which use technology licensed from UOP.

The Visbreaker Unit of the refinery uses technology licensed from Shell/ABB Lummus to produce vacuum gas oil. Using technology provided by KTI, Holland, the hydrogen plants of the refinery produce naphtha.

The refinery also contains three Sulphur Recovery Units. The units use technology provided by KTI, Italy, to produce sulphur. A bitumen blowing reactor designed by Austria-based Porner is also part of the refinery.

Contractors

Engineers India was contracted as the project management consultant (PMC) for the expansion project in June 2006.

In April 2009, Larsen & Toubro was awarded a INR13.44bn ($286.6m) contract for design and construction of a 3.7mmtpa diesel hydrotreating unit. The hydrotreating unit will use technology licensed from France’s Axen. A 70,000tpa hydrogen generation unit (HGU) is also part of the contract. Haldor Topsoe will provide its technology for the HGU.

Tecnimont ICB won a $80m contract in August 2009 for providing EPC services for a Heavy coker gas oil hydrotreating unit (CHTU) as part of the Phase III expansion plan. UOP is providing the engineering and design services for the CHTU.

In September 2009, Punj Lloyd won a $113.65m contract from MRPL to build a petro fluid catalytic cracking (PFCC) unit for the refinery. The PFCC was designed by Shaw Stone & Webster.

Punj Lloyd will also construct structures for the refinery’s offsite facility. It will commission the pumps and vessels at the facility and install a support flare system.

Toyo Engineering was contracted in November 2009 to improve the crude/vacuum distillation unit (CDU/VDU) capacity from 3.69mmtpa to 4.8mmtpa. Jacobs Engineering was awarded a $100m EPC contract for the (CDU/VDU) project.

Toyo will also build a delayed coker unit (DCU) with a capacity of 3mmtpa. The DCU was designed by CB&I Lumnus. Toyo was also part of Phase I and II of the refinery’s construction.

MRPL awarded Shriram EPC an $18m contract in December 2009 to design, construct and install a cooling tower and cooling water treatment plant for the refinery.

In June 2010, Technip was awarded a $30.27m contract for the expansion project. Technip will design and install fired heaters for the CDU/VDU, DCU and PFCC. The company will install the units in the first half of 2011.

Eimco Water Technologies has been contracted to provide its Kubota membrane technology for the effluent treatment plant of the expansion project. The plant will process 14.76 million litres of effluent per day from the refinery.

Technology

Honeywell provided its UniSim Design simulation technology to simulate the engineering process of the plant effectively. The technology helps engineers create dynamic models of the process to better understand the process behaviour during each phase of the refinery’s lifecycle. It also helps in effectively operating the plant and optimising its production.