The Pachpadra refinery project, also known as the Rajasthan refinery and petrochemical complex project (RRP) or the Barmer refinery project, is an integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex to be set up in Barmer district of Rajasthan, India.
The project is being executed by HPCL Rajasthan Refinery (HRRL), a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL, 74%) and the Government of Rajasthan (26%).
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With a processing capacity of nine million tonnes of crude oil per annum (Mtpa), the refinery complex will produce environment-friendly clean fuels, as well as petrochemicals to be used as feedstock in packaging, textile, and petroleum industries.
The construction of the Barmer refinery project was launched in January 2018 with the start of commercial operations expected by 2022. It is expected to create 1,500 direct jobs during the construction phase and provide indirect employment opportunities for approximately 30,000 people.
Location and site details
The Pachpadra refinery project site is spread across an area of 4,812 acres comprising villages of Sajjiyali, Roopji, Kanthavad, and Sambhara, in the Pachpadra Tehsil of the Barmer district in Rajasthan.
The refinery will also be connected with the proposed 70km-long crude pipeline from the Mangla Processing Terminal (MPT) and a 60km-long natural gas pipeline from the Raageshwari Gas Terminal (RGT).
A 247-acre Green Township and a 166.33-acre reservoir are also being developed at the site.
The site is also well connected to the roadways via national highway 112 and situated is approximately 420km away from the city of Jaipur.
Process units at the Pachpadra refinery complex
The Pachpadra refinery and petrochemical complex will be set up as a grassroot facility. It will process 1.5Mmtpa of crude produced in Rajasthan apart from 7.6Mtpa of Arab mix crude for the first eight years and only Arab mix crude from the ninth year onwards.
The refinery will be equipped with 29 process units including a crude distillation unit, a 4.8MMtpa vacuum distillation unit, 4.1Mtpa diesel hydrotreatment unit, a 3.5Mtpa vacuum gas oil treatment hydrotreater, a 2.9Mtpa petro fluidised catalytic cracking unit, and a 1.8Mtpa naphtha hydrotreating unit.
The facility will also feature a 3,744,000m3 raw water reservoir, two raw water treatment plants of 3,000m3/h capacity each, and a 42,000m3 treated water storage facility.
Financing
HPCL Rajasthan Refinery archived financial closure for the project in early 2019.
A consortium of nine banks led by SBI agreed to provide a syndicated debt facility of £3.85bn (Rs287.5bn), while a viability gap funding (VGF) worth approximately £130m (Rs11.23bn) was provided without interest by the Government of Rajasthan for the project.
Contractors involved
Axens Technologies was contracted to provide technologies as well as supply catalysts, adsorbents, and proprietary equipment for the project in April 2019.
McDermott International was contracted for the license and basic engineering design of two 490kta polypropylene units of the refinery in December 2018.
Engineers India Limited (EIL) was contracted to provide project management consulting (PMC) services for the execution of the refinery project as well as for the execution of residual utilities and offsite (RU&O) facilities on open book estimation (OBE) basis in September 2018.
Pachpadra refinery and petrochemical project benefits
The Pachpadra refinery project will support the development of ancillary industries based on polypropylene, automotive parts, films, pipes, packaged liquid products, tires and plastic materials, petro-engineering units, and support industries in Rajasthan and north India.
It is also expected to increase self-sufficiency of the nation in the manufacture of value added petroleum products thereby reducing the imports and resulting in savings in foreign exchange.
The project will also boost the economic and infrastructural development around the project site.
A pipeline network of more than 15,000km for natural gas, crude and product, will also be benefitted by the refinery.
