History: 

1974

• Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals (BRPL) was incorporated in 1974, in Assam. The company has a refining capacity of approximately 2.35 mtpa.
• It also houses a petrochemical complex for the manufacture of xylene, DMT, orthoxylene, paraxylene and polyester staplefibre (PSF).
• The company is a major exporter of PSF to Bangladesh, Belgium, France, Iran, Vietnam, etc. Most of its products are marketed done by Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL).

OPERATIONS :

• Crude Throughput : The Refinery processed 1,179,120 tonnes of crude oil during the year 1994-95 against actual receipt of 1,176,292 tonnes for processing, and Actual plan target was 1,280,000 tonnes. The Refinery processed 1,215,714 tonnes of crude oil during the year 1995-96, against actual receipt of 1,215,459 tonnes for processing, and actual plan target was 1,800,000.
• Polyster Staple Fibre : Stream-1 and total ofsite facilities were declared for commercial production from May, 1988 and the balance part of Stream-2 from September, 1988. The total production of PSF during the year was 5430 MT inclusive of trial production of 696 MT.

PROJECTS :

A) Product Application Centre : A product application centre has been set set up during the year 1992-93, to provide technological back-up to the Fibre Consumers as well as to undertake improvement oriented activities.

B) Waste Fibre Recovery Unit : A Waste Fibre Recovery Unit based on Dupont Technology to process the Waste Fibre generated in the PSF plant has been commissioned on May 11, 1993. This plant not only converts waste to value added products but also helps in improving environment.

C) Tankage : Following the guidelines established by Oil Coordination committee, the capacity for the storage of Crude, High speed Diesel Oil and Kerosene is being augmented to create the necessary operational and maintenance flexibility. For the same reason additional tankage is being constructed for Para-Xylene, Slop, ATF, Ceenine Solvent and DM Water. 11 nos of Product Tanks and 2 nos of Crude Oil Tanks have been completed in September, 1992 and December, 1992 respectively and commissioned durign the year 1992-93.

D) Refinery Expansion Project : The proposal for expanding the refining capacity from existing 1.35 MTPA to 2.35 MTPA was approved by the Government on 30th December, 1991. The components of this project are :

1) Augmentation of Crude Refining capacity from 13,50,000 tpa to 23,50,000 tpa (Crude Distribution Unit).

2) Augmentation of Secondary processing capacity from 5,00,000 tpa to 10,00,000 tpa (Delayed Coker Unit).

3) Creation of LPG Recovery capacity of 27,900 tpa.

4) Augmentation of Xylene Plant Reformer Unit Naphtha Processing capacity from 80,000 tpa to 1,07,000 tpa.

E) LPG Bottling Plant: Government clearance for setting up of an LPG Bottling Plant with a capacity of 22,000 tpa adjacent to the refinery premises was obtained in June, 1995. Land acquisition for the plant is completed and land development work is in progress. M/s. EIL has been engaged as a consultant for the Project.

F) Expansion of DMT Plant: As per the agreement with M/s. Huls Troisdort AG of Germany, to examine the feasibility of expanding the capacity of the DMT Plant from 41,500 to about 50,000 tpa, an in-plant study was completed by them. The Feasibility Report from M/s. Huls AG is due in September,1996.

G) Modernisation of PSF Plant: Technology Transfer Agreement with M/s. Dupont, USA executed for incorporation of new technologies for production of black fibre, vacuum improvement in Continuous Polymerization, toner injection for colour improvement and use of single end tie-in device in spinning. Apart from the above, a relaxed draw line is being converted to an annealed draw line. EIL has been engaged as the Engineering Consultant for the project. The project is expected to be completed in 1998.

Environment-related Projects:

(1) Residue Methanolysis and Catalyst Recovery Project: Construction activities of Residue Methanolysis and Catalyst Recovery Unit with technical knowhow of M/s. Huls Troisdort AG of Germany to reprocess certain residue generated in DMT Plant are in progress.

(2) Continuous Stack Monitoring and Ambient Air Monitoring facilities: Installation of the Continuous Stack Monitoring and Ambient Air Monitoring facilities is in progress. The equipment have been received at site and the project is scheduled to be completed in 1996-97.

(3) Tertiary Treatment Plant: The Tertiary Treatment Plant, to enable reuse of treated liquid effluent is in advanced stage of completion. The plant will be ready for commissioning in 1996-97.

H) Encon Projects : The status of various energy conservation projects is outlined below:

(1) Low Level Heat Recovery in Crude Distillation Unit : Draft Process Package from M/s. EIL has been received and procurement action for selected items has been initiated.

(2) Preheat Train Improvement/Crude Column Optimisation: Detailed Feasibility Report From M/s. EIL has been received and detailed engineering is in progress.

(3) Crude Oil Desalter in Crude Distillation Unit: Enquiry has been floated with revised scope of work.

(4) Waste Heat Boiler in Coke Calcination Unit: Invitation of bids is in progress.

Township Phase-V:

Construction of 58 blocks (232 units) of 'B' type quarters has been completed. Construction of 'C' type and 'D' type quarters is in progress.

Following other projects have been completed during the year 1993-94.

1) Product Storage and Despatch Facilities - MS and MS component (LAE) tankages.

2) Additional HSD and SKO Truck loading bays.

3) Cee-Nine loading facilities.

4) Truck Unloading facilities for Methonol and P-Xylene.

5) BG Loading of SKO\MS.

6) Doping of blue dye in SKO.

E) Development of Small Scale Industries and Anciallary : During the year 1990-91, the company has put in considerable efforts towards import substitution and has developed a good number of local vendors for supply of spares and chemicals. Efforts were were also made to develop and sustain Small Scale Industries, for supply of packaging materials, spares etc.

Future Projects:

Perspective Plan

• The future business strategy of the Company was reviewed in a study carried out by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahemdabad and the same has been the basis of preparation of a Perspective Plan for the Company for the period upto 2006-07 to enable faster growth.

Benzene Plant and Expansion of Xylene Plant:

• Feasibility Reports of these projects are under consideration. The Projects when implemented would enable value addition to aromatic rich naphtha from Assam crude and open up new avenues in Petrochemical business.

Hydrotreatment of Coker Light Gas Oil (LGO) for upgrading to HSD:

• This project envisages upgrading low value Coker Light Gas Oil to HSD, utilising hydrogen available from the Reformer Unit of the Xylene Plant. The first stage clearance of the project has been received in June, 1996.
• AWARDS : BRPL was the proud winner of "Jawahar Lal Nehru Award for Energy Conversion " from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Government of India for best performance in reduction of energy consumption and fuel loss in the refinery sector during the year 1990-91. The company was awarded the first prize for Energy Conservation in the Petrochemical sector for the year 1993.
• - Govt. of India (GOI) to sell its entire shareholding in BRPL to IOC. The GOI disinvested 14,87,93,826 shares (74.46% of the paid up Capital) in favour of IOCL on 29.03.2001 thus making BRPL a subsidiary of IOCL.

2000

• - Indian Oil Corporation and Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. have signed an agreement for development of pipeline hookup facilities for transporting imported crude oil to BRPL's refinery.

2002

• -Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd has informed that Shri B K Mittal, Executive Director (ER), IOCL, Kolkata and Shri P K Atreya, GM I/C (Supplies), Marketing (HO), IOCL, Mumbai (as nominated by Indian Oil Corporation Limited) has been appointed as Directors of the Company in place of Shri M B L Agarwal and Shri S Basu respectively with effect from November 22, 2002. Further, Shri Ajay Tyagi, Director, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has been appointed as a Director of the Company in place of Shri Ashok Chawla, Joint Secretary (PC), Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals with effect from November 25, 2002.

2003

• -Government approved for the proposal to allocate 1.5million tonnes of Ravva Crude to Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.
• -Mr.P.S.Rao, Executive Director & Mr. P.K Chakraborty, General Manager have been appointed as the Directors on the Board of the Company.

2004

• -Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd has informed that the Delhi Stock Exchange Association Ltd vide their letter dated February 10, 2004 has delisted the securities of the company wef February 11, 2004
• -Shares delisted from Madras Stock Exchange
• -Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd has informed that Shri K K Acharya, Executive Director (Operations), Refineries Division, IOCL (as nominated by Indian Oil Corporation Limited) has been appointed as a Director of the Company in place of Shri P S Rao w.e.f. July 19, 2004

2005

• -Delist equity shares from Calcutta Stock Exchange Association Ltd (CSE) w.e.f. March 01, 2005. However, considering the interest of the general investors, the Company have simultaneously been shifted to Permitted Category of the CSE.

2008

• - Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd has informed that the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India vide letter dated July 31, 2008 has re-appointed M/s. Ghoshal & Ghosal, Chartered Accountants, Kolkata as the Statutory Auditors of the Company for the year 2008-09.