United States - India - BPCL Petroleum Coke Gasification Project "Technical"

Description

Added: Oct 29, 2019 12:54 pm

Proposal Submission Place:
Mr. Sreeram A N
General Manager (Project Technical & Petchem)
BPCL Kochi Refinery
Ambalamughal
Ernakulam
Kerala
India
PIN: 682302
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited ("Grantee") invites submission of qualifications and proposal data (collectively referred to as the "Proposal") from interested U.S. firms that are qualified on the basis of experience and capability to conduct a feasibility study for the Grantee to evaluate options for petroleum coke ("petcoke") gasification at the Grantee's Kochi refinery. The implementation of petcoke gasification would help BPCL make value-added products that meet environmental emission restrictions in India.
BRIEF PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND DESCRIPTION OF GRANTEE
BPCL is a government-owned oil and gas company in India with over $40 billion in annual sales. BPCL operates several refineries in the country, including India's largest public sector refinery in Kochi, a major port city in the southern state of Kerala. The Kochi refinery has been in operation for more than 50 years and installed a delayed coker unit (DCU) in 2017. The petcoke produced by the DCU is currently sold as fuel to industrial customers in India, primarily cement manufacturers. For reasons highlighted above, the use of this petcoke as fuel by cement manufacturers results in significant emissions.
India is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world, and its need for energy supplies continues to climb as a result of the country's dynamic economic growth and modernization. In order to meet the country's domestic demand for fossil fuels, especially for petroleum-based transportation fuels, the Government of India and the private sector began to focus on investing in refineries in the 1990s. Thanks to this effort, refining capacity has grown substantially and is expected to continue to grow by 5.3% annually for the next five years.
As Indian refineries are increasingly refining heavy crudes, the petcoke produced via delayed coking contains high amounts of sulfur and toxic heavy metals, such as vanadium, which contributes to the air pollution problem when used as fuel. To address this issue, the Government of India has recently announced enhanced emissions restrictions due to the potential environmental hazards presented by petcoke. For example, in 2017, the Supreme Court of India banned the burning of petcoke as a fuel in and around New Delhi. At the time, the Government of India considered completely banning the burning of petcoke as a fuel nationwide in order to reduce pollution, but failed to do so, presumably due to pressure from industry. Most refiners believe this ban is inevitable and are evaluating alternative methods of processing petcoke in order to comply with increasingly strict environmental air emission standards while continuing to use petcoke as a revenue stream.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF STUDY COMPONENTS
BPCL has requested a feasibility study (FS) to explore other methods of petcoke processing at the Kochi refinery. Specifically, the FS will evaluate options to gasify petcoke, a process that produces synthesis gas which can be used to create several value-added petrochemicals such as methanol, or act as a replacement for natural gas and other fuel sources for power production, steam production and cogeneration. This methodology would lead to reduced pollution levels as the petcoke would no longer be sold to be burned as fuel.
The U.S. firm selected will be paid in U.S. dollars from a $731,775 grant to the Grantee from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).
A detailed Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes requirements for the Proposal, the Terms of Reference, and portions of a background definitional mission report are available from USTDA, at 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1100, Arlington, VA 22209-3901. To request the RFP in PDF format, please go to: 
http://www.ustda.gov/business-opportunities/request-proposal-form 
Requests for a mailed hardcopy version of the RFP may also be faxed to the IRC, USTDA at 703-875-4009. In the fax, please include your firm's name, contact person, address, and telephone number. Some firms have found that RFP materials sent by U.S. mail do not reach them in time for preparation of an adequate response. Firms that want USTDA to use an overnight delivery service should include the name of the delivery service and your firm's account number in the request for the RFP. Firms that want to send a courier to USTDA to retrieve the RFP should allow one hour after faxing the request to USTDA before scheduling a pick-up. Please note that no telephone requests for the RFP will be honored. Please check your internal fax verification receipt. Because of the large number of RFP requests, USTDA cannot respond to requests for fax verification. Requests for RFPs received before 4:00 PM will be mailed the same day. Requests received after 4:00 PM will be mailed the following day. Please check with your courier and/or mail room before calling USTDA.
Only U.S. firms and individuals may bid on this USTDA financed activity. Interested firms, their subcontractors and employees of all participants must qualify under USTDA's nationality requirements as of the due date for submission of qualifications and proposals and, if selected to carry out the USTDA-financed activity, must continue to meet such requirements throughout the duration of the USTDA-financed activity. All goods and services to be provided by the selected firm shall have their nationality, source and origin in the U.S. or host country. The U.S. firm may use subcontractors from the host country for up to 20 percent of the USTDA grant amount. Details of USTDA's nationality requirements and mandatory contract clauses are also included in the RFP.
Interested U.S. firms should submit their Proposal in English directly to the Grantee by 5:00 PM IST (6:30 AM EST), December 9, 2019 at the above address. Evaluation criteria for the Proposal are included in the RFP. Price will not be a factor in contractor selection, and therefore, cost proposals should NOT be submitted. The Grantee reserves the right to reject any and/or all Proposals. The Grantee also reserves the right to contract with the selected firm for subsequent work related to the project. The Grantee is not bound to pay for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of Proposals.

Opportunity closing date

09 December 2019

Value of contract

to be confirmed