Under the contract, McDermott will provide project management and consultancy services, including FEED, review of engineering activities, construction supervision services, assistance in start-up, pre-commissioning, commissioning, performance guarantee test run and project closure, for the MAH unit

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IOCL awards PMC contract to McDermott for MAH unit at the Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex in India. (Credit: Nicola Giordano from Pixabay)

US-based engineering and construction company McDermott International has secured a project management consultancy (PMC) contract from Indian Oil (IOCL) for the Maleic Anhydride (MAH) unit at the Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex in India.

Under the contract, McDermott will provide project management and consultancy services for the MAH unit.

The scope of services includes front-end engineering design (FEED), review of engineering activities, construction supervision services, assistance in start-up, pre-commissioning, commissioning, performance guarantee test run and project closure.

Commissioned in 1998, the Panipat complex is located 100km from New Delhi in Panipat, Haryana.

The refinery had an initial capacity of six million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) which was then expanded to 12MMTPA in 2006 and to 15MMTPA in 2010. Further expansion of the refinery’s capacity to 25MMTPA is under execution.

According to McDermott, the new MAH unit at the Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex is India’s first mega-scale MAH plant to manufacture chemical products.

The plant is also expected to produce other chemicals including Butanediol (BDO), which is used in engineering-grade plastic and biodegradable fibres and Tetra Hydro Furan (THF), which is widely used in adhesives and vinyl film.

McDermott Onshore senior vice president Vaseem Khan said: “McDermott has a long-standing relationship with IOCL and is currently executing three large-scale projects at their Barauni and Haldia refineries.

“Our unrivalled project management and execution capabilities, combined with our decades of experience in India, uniquely position us to successfully execute this project.”

Work on the project is expected to be carried out from McDermott’s Center of Excellence in Gurugram.

In November 2022, IOCL, together with other equity partners, signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum (CPCL) to build a refinery in Tamil Nadu.