Visakha Refinery : Fuelling nation's growth

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited's (HPCL) Visakha Refinery, which has a capacity of 8.3 MMTPA, has evolved as a world-class refinery. With state-of-the-art facilities, it has been supplying high quality products and catering to the energy demand of the region. It also constantly strives to be a role model of excellence in meeting social commitment, environment, health & safety norms and in employee welfare and relations. The refinery achieved 8.028 MMTPA of crude throughput during the 2012-13. The year also saw turnaround of three major units during the year.

High quality norms Continuous operation of MS Block units and DHDS (Diesel Hydrodesulphurization) Unit has resulted in consistent supply of Euro-III/IV grade of MS (petrol) and diesel to its supply regions. Sustained and continuous operation of its Single Point Mooring (SPM) facility is ensured for crude tanker receipts. First VLCC was received on December 26, 2012, and five VLCCs were received by April 2013. Being in the forefront of high quality refining products supply, HPCL runs a world class state-of-the-art Quality Control Laboratory which is an NABL-accredited installation.

New initiatives At present, Visakha Refinery is setting up a new Diesel Hydro-treating (DHT) facilities for EURO IV HSD production at a cost of about Rs 2,730 crore. Works are at an advanced stage and it will be commissioned during 2013 itself. The refinery is also in the process of commissioning a Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) project for SPM reduction in FCCU flue gases at a cost of Rs 75 crore.

Stringent safety practices As for safety, the refinery completed a significant achievement of 7.5 million man hours of safe operations as on March 31, 2013. A stringent Online Work Permit System tracks the hot-work activities online and work permit system is revised in line with OISD Standards. Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) is made compulsory before taking up any job in revised work permit system. The refinery has so far installed an adequate number (2,800) of fire and gas detectors in the process areas for detecting leaks of gases like Hydrocarbon, Hydrogen and H2S and alerting fire emergency situations. Mock drills are held periodically to assess the safety practices, involving third party external safety audits of the refinery facilities.

The Visakha Refinery was awarded ISO-14001 for sound practices in environmental management in May 2012. Sustained compliance with SO2 emission from refinery stacks and ambient air quality norms is achieved. Connectivity for ambient air monitoring stations to CPCB server is in place and the data is being transferred to CPCB server. This is in addition to connectivity already provided to APPCB server.

A new effluent treatment plant (ETP) of 180 KLPH capacity is in continuous operation meeting MINAS parameters along with the other two existing effluent treatment plants. Various energy saving measures implemented during 2012-13 resulted in fuel savings of around 20,171 SRFT (Standard Refinery Fuel Tons).

Green drive As per the directive of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, tree plantation has been taken up in the areas allocated by GVMC; approximaely 85,000 saplings have already been planted and the balance plantation work is in progress.

Visakha Refiner took up following activities as part of its corporate social responsibility during the year 2012-13 at a cost of Rs 1.06 crore:

• Supply of educational aids (books, computers, desks, stationery & scholarships) and provision of infrastructural facilities at schools (classrooms, library, laboratory, etc.)
• Construction of community centers;
• Support to physically handicapped children, orphans and SC/ST hostels;
• Contribution of medical facilities (hospital cots & mattresses, equipment, test kits, etc.); and
• Ambulance to government hospitals as well as vehicles for physically challenged people