Barauni Refinery

Barauni Refinery was dedicated to the nation in 1965. Established in 1964, it is on the Northern banks of the holy Ganges, at Barauni, on the periphery of the district town Begusarai, Bihar. Situated 125 km from Patna, it is also the point where two important railways meet – the Eastern Railways and North Eastern Railways. It was built in collaboration with the Soviet Union with limited participation from Romania, at a cost of ~Rs 49.4 Crore, and went on stream in 1964.

The Refinery has gone a long way over the years, starting from a crude processing capacity of 1.0 MMTPA (AVU-I) of sweet crude from Assam oil fields. It has steadily expanded its capacity to 3.0 MMTPA with AVU-II and AU-III. Further, with the revamp of AVU-I & II in 1985 & 1998-99 followed by AU-III revamp in 2000, crude processing capability was increased to the current level of 6.0 MMTPA. In 2002, the processing of high sulphur crudes through Barauni Expansion Project (BXP) was implemented. Residue Fluidized Catalytic Cracker Unit (RFCCU), Diesel Hydro Treating Unit (DHDT), Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU), Amine Re-generation Unit (ARU), and Hydrogen Generation Unit (HGU) are some of the major units.

Further following units were added to meet the fuel specifications.

• Catalytic Reforming Unit (CRU) was set up in 1997 to produce unleaded gasoline.
• Diesel Hydro-treater Unit (DHDT) was put up in 2002 for supplying BS-II grade diesel. The third reactor was commissioned in May 2009 to meet BS-III diesel specifications. Also, FCC Gasoline Desulphurisation (FCC GDS), Isomerisation Unit, Naphtha Hydrotreater, Hydrogen unit were commissioned in 2010 along with revamp of existing units to meet BS-III MS specifications.
• To produce BS-IV and BS VI compliant MS and HSD, Diesel Hydrotreating Unit (DHDT) revamp, a new FCC Gasoline De-Sulphuration Unit (FCCGDS) and Continuous Catalytic Reforming Unit (CCRU) were implemented. The Project was executed in two phases. Phase-I was completed in August 2017 to meet BS-IV quality while Phase-II was commissioned to meet BS-VI quality. The ATF producing indJet unit was commissioned in 2022 under “Make in India Initiative” developed by IOCL R&D.

Upcoming Projects:Barauni Refinery expansion from 6 to 9 MMTPA is currently under implementation. It includes the expansion of distillation capacity, secondary units along with petrochemical units.

Major products:Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), Naphtha, Motor Spirit(MS), Ethanol Blended Motor Spirit (EBMS), Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO), Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), High-Speed Diesel (HSD), Furnace Oil (FO), Low Sulphur Heavy Stock (LSHS), Raw Petroleum Coke (RPC), Bitumen, Sulphur and Carbon Black Feed Stock (CBFS).

Mode of Product Dispatch and Crude Receipt:

• Pipeline-
  • Barauni-Kanpur Product Pipeline(BKPL) and Tops of BKPL at Patna connected with Patna-Baitalpur pipeline(Domestic)and Patna-Motihari – Amlekhganj (Nepal) Transnational product pipeline for MS &HSD.
  • Haldia Barauni Pipeline(HBPL) for receipt of MS, HSD & ATF
  • Paradip Haldia Barauni Motihari Pipeline (PHBMPL) for LPG
  • Paradip Haldia Barauni Pipeline (PHBPL) for receipt of Crude oil
• Tanker trucks Loading facilities available for LPG, RPC & Sulphur and Unloading facilities for Ethanol.
• Tank Wagons Loading facilities available for Naphtha, MS, EBMS, Reformate, HSD, SKO, LSHS, FO,DHDT Feed & CBFS and Unloading facilities for Naphtha,MS,HSD, Reformate &DHDT Feed.