Fluor will provide front-end engineering and design of both the inside and outside battery limits for BPCL’s Polyols Petrochemicals Project

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BPCL’s Polyols Petrochemicals Project will comprise six new process units. (Credit: Pixabay/Frauke Feind)

India’s Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has awarded a project management consultancy services contract to US-based engineering and construction firm Fluor for the petrochemicals project in Kerala, a state in India.

Under the contract, the company will be responsible for the front-end engineering and design of both the inside and outside battery limits for BPCL’s Polyols Petrochemicals Project located at its existing integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in Kochi, Kerala.

The firm will also provide detailed design, engineering, procurement and construction management services for the facility’s utilities and offsites.

BPCL’s Polyols Petrochemicals Project will feature six new process units

The Polyols Petrochemicals Project involves the construction of six new process units, which will be integrated into the existing refinery. The units comprise propylene oxide, propylene glycol, polyols, ethylene oxide/monoethylene glycol, ethylene recovery unit and a cumene unit.

Fluor Energy & Chemicals business group president Mark Fields said: “We look forward to working with BPCL to deliver a world-class facility that will help meet growing domestic demand for polyols and reduce India’s dependence on petrochemicals imports.”

The firm plans to implement the project work from its office in New Delhi with support from its network of global experts.

BPCL’s Kochi Refinery executive director Murali Madhavan said: “BPCL is making major advancements at its Kochi Refinery to produce niche petrochemicals that are extensively imported into India to manufacture polyurethanes used in footwear, foam and other items.

“We are happy that Fluor, an internationally reputed engineering and consultancy organization, has been selected as the project management consultant for the project.”

The Kochi complex, upon completion, will have the capacity to produce propylene glycol, ethylene glycol and various grades of polyols based on 250 kilotonnes per annum of polymer grade propylene.

In December 2019, Fluor announced that its joint venture COOEC-Fluor Heavy Industries (COOEC-Fluor) has completed the module programme for Al-Zour refinery project in Kuwait.