Hindustan refinery to restart in 2 months

The fire-ravaged 90,000 b/d Visakhapatnam, India, refinery of Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) will remain inoperable for about 2 months.

Last month's fire and subsequent blast took the lives of 56 people (OGJ, Sept. 22, 1997, p. 42). All those within a 500 m radius of the explosion were killed.

The explosion leveled buildings, and storage tanks as far away as the marketing complex were heavily damaged.

According to D.S. Mathur, HPCL's director of production, "The refinery is likely to be recommissioned by around the end of November this year, after the necessary repair work is done on the damaged facilities and a thorough check carried out."

The expected 2-month restart time is considerably shorter than the 18 months reported last week (OGJ, Sept. 29, 1997, Newsletter). It will take HPCL about 18 months to replace the destroyed buildings and facilities rather than to restart the refinery.

Specialists from Engineers India Ltd. and Andhra University are already inspecting the site and carrying out checks and surveys of the LPG spheres, storage tanks, and pipelines in the area of the fire.

The refinery had begun a planned 2-month shutdown of various refinery units on Sept. 10. As a result, the effect of the forced closure on HPCL's operations and profits will be minimal, said Mathur.

Supply

The Visakhapatnam refinery imports about 35,000 metric tons of LPG every month, apart from producing 12,000 tons. Importation of LPG through the refinery is not likely to be possible for at least 6 months, because metallurgical tests have to be carried out and storage tanks repaired.

"I don't think that the state of Andhra Pradesh, in which this refinery's products are sold (for the most part) will experience any scarcity of LPG and other petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, kerosine, and naphtha, as a result of the situation," said Mathur.

At the moment, the company is mobilizing bulk supply from the HPCL terminal at Mangalore. This material is being fed to LPG plants at Kondapally, Vijayawada state, and at Cherallapally, Secunderabad state.

"In addition, the LPG plant at Jatni will be fed from Bijapur by the Gas Authority of India Ltd.," said S.K. Kapoor, HPCL's director of marketing. "There is sufficient stock of petrol and diesel at the Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum terminals at Visakhapatnam."

There is not a pressing need to import LPG through the Visakhapatnam port. Other terminals are adequately equipped to meet demand. For example, terminals at Mumbai, formerly Bombay, have a capacity of 400,000 tons/year, and at Mangalore and Kandla each have a capacity of 600,000 tons/year.

"Additional bulk trucks have been diverted to Mangalore and Kandla terminals for bringing supplies to the region," said Kapoor. "Three more new storage tanks, with a total capacity of 4,200 tons, are also ready for operation in the marketing terminal. As soon as the LPG is produced, it can be stored in these tanks."

Investigation

HPCL is gathering data to determine the cause of the LPG leak that led to the formation of a vapor cloud inside the refinery. The company has asked IOC to provide data, including the pressure at which LPG was being pumped from the vessel MV Nanga Parbat into HPCL's storage tanks when the accident occurred. "We believe the data with the tanker would provide important clues in our investigation into the reasons for the disaster," said Mathur. "LPG is usually pumped in at a pressure of 150 to 200 tons/hr."

The LPG tanker had started unloading to the refinery LPG sphere at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, and continued its operations into the morning of Sept. 14.

The vessel was chartered by IOC, the transport agency for all crude and petroleum products into the country. Soon after the fire, the ship was en route toward Mangalore port, to discharge its remaining LPG cargo.

Mathur estimated direct losses to the refinery at about 850 million rupees ($23.6 million), and another 650 million rupees ($18 million) resulting from the forced closure of the facility.