Bharat Oman Refineries Limited’s (BORL) new refinery is situated at Bina in Madhya Pradesh, India. BORL is set up as an equity partnership between Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Oman Oil Company Limited (OOCL). BPCL holds a 74% stake in the refinery and OOCL holds the remaining 26%.
The 6mmtpa Bina refinery covers an area of 2,000 acres and was built at a cost of $2bn. The refinery will process crude oil from West Asia to produce petrol, diesel and other products of Euro-III / Euro-IV standards.
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The Bina refinery will reduce BPCL’s reliance on imports and avoid the need to buy these products from domestic refiners.
BORL started processing at the plant’s crude distillation unit (CDU) in June 2010. Within a few days of start-up, BORL shut down its crude unit on 7 July 2010 because the refinery did not have sufficient intermediate tanks to store the products and the vacuum distillation unit (VDU) had to be linked to the CDU.
Commissioning of the crude unit and other units at the refinery took place in January 2011. The refinery was officially inaugurated in May 2011.
A $450m expansion to increase the capacity of the refinery to nine million tonnes was announced on 6 May 2011. This capacity will be further increased to 15 million tonnes during the second phase of expansion.
Bina refinery construction
The Bina refinery’s facilities are divided into primary processing, secondary processing and treating units. The primary processing units include the crude and vacuum distillation units (CDU / VDU), which process crude oil into LPG, diesel and kerosene.
The secondary processing units comprise a full conversion hydrocracker unit (FCHC), a continuous catalytic regeneration and reforming unit (CCR), a naphtha hydrotreating unit (NHU), a naphtha isomerisation unit (NIU), a hydrogen generation unit (HGU) and a delayed coker unit (DCU). These units convert products from the primary processing units into value added products.
The treating units include LPG treating units (LTU), an ATF Merox unit, a diesel hydrotreater unit (DHU), a sulphur recovery unit (SRU) and a tail gas treating unit (TGTU).
The DHU is integrated with the FCHC. These units process the feed from the secondary processing units to remove impurities such as sulphur and nitrogen.
The refinery project included the construction of crude oil import and storage facilities. They comprise a single point mooring (SPM), a pipeline end manifold (PLEM) system, and a crude oil terminal (COT) at Vadinar with a capacity of 480,000m³. The SPM and PLEM were installed at a depth of 32m and can receive crude oil from ocean tankers of sizes up to 320,000dwt.
The project also included installation of an offshore / onshore pipeline connecting the SPM to the COT. Oil received through the crude carriers is unloaded through the pipeline. About 15km of the 48in diameter pipeline was installed offshore and 5km was installed onshore.
The power plant of the refinery is a circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC) type boiler. It generates power using a steam turbine with petroleum coke as fuel. The pet coke will be produced by the DCU of the refinery. This is the first time a power plant based on pet coke has been built.
Contractors for the BORL Bina refinery
ABB-Lummus provided its technology for the DCU. Technology for the FCHC was provided by Chevron. The process technology for the NHU, NIU and CCR was licensed from UOP. Technip Benelux provided the technology for the HGU.
The CDU / VDU, LTU and SRU were designed by Engineers India. Technology for the TGTU was provided by SIIRTEC NIGI.
BORL awarded a Rs9.5m contract for the captive cogeneration power plant (CPP) of the refinery to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) in September 2006.
In November 2006, China Petroleum Technology Development Corporation was awarded a Rs2.7m contract to supply the reactors for the FCHC and DHU.
The Rs2.6m engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract for the DCU was awarded to Naftogaz India in July 2007.
In August 2007, Punj Lloyd won the Rs5.9m contract to construct the refinery’s treating units. Punj Lloyd built the SRU, ARU, TGTU and sour water stripping units.
Petron Engineering Construction was awarded a Rs840,000 contract to carry out mechanical work at the refinery in April 2008.
The contract to construct the Vadinar-Bina pipeline was awarded to two companies. The Rs1.9m contract for the 504km Gujarat section was awarded to Essar Construction. Kalpataru Power Transmission won the Rs1.4m contract for the 431km Madhya Pradesh section.
The contract for the construction of the SPM and PLEM system was awarded to Leighton International. The company installed the piling for the SPM anchors, under buoy hoses, floating hoses for the system and other facilities.
Vadinar-Bina pipeline
The Vadinar-Bina pipeline connects the COT at Vadinar with the Bina refinery. The 24in-diameter pipeline is 935km long and designed to handle 6mmtpa.
Commissioned in June 2010, the pipeline is designed to handle 12mmt-15mmtpa with the addition of an intermediate pumping station in future.
The pipeline is laid fully underground at a depth of 1m, with two intermediate stations at Thamna and Bewari to boost pressure. It features safety mechanisms such as cathodic protection systems and pigging facilities.
