RCF Awards INR 7.97 Billion Ammonia Plant Revamp Contract to L&T

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Board of Directors of India's Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF) has approved the award of a purchase order worth INR 7.97 billion plus taxes to Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) for the revamp of an ammonia plant at RCF's Thal production site, with the core objective of reducing the specific energy consumption of the ammonia production unit. The contract execution period is 36 months, and the contractor was selected through the lowest bidder (L1) method.

L&T's contract scope extends from detailed engineering all the way to guaranteed operation of the plant, including detailed design, equipment manufacturing, supply, civil construction, installation, commissioning, and final guaranteed operation. According to RCF's disclosure, this contract covers the complete revamp engineering chain of the existing ammonia plant, rather than a single equipment replacement or partial overhaul. Upon project completion, the revamp results must also be verified through the guaranteed operation phase to confirm energy consumption and plant performance.

The Thal site is one of RCF's main ammonia-urea production bases, and its existing production system has long relied on the ammonia plant to supply feedstock to the downstream urea plant. Previously publicly available information from the Indian government showed that Thal had implemented an ammonia-urea plant capacity enhancement revamp, increasing the capacity of two ammonia plants from 2×1,500 tonnes per day to 2×1,750 tonnes per day; the news angle of this new contract has shifted from capacity expansion to specific energy consumption revamp of the existing ammonia plant.

RCF had previously carried out multiple rounds of technical upgrades to the Thal ammonia plant. The earlier Thal Ammonia Revamp project already involved updates to instrumentation, electrical, and process systems. This INR 7.97 billion order once again covers detailed design, manufacturing, construction, installation, and commissioning, with a project implementation period of three years, and the engineering depth clearly exceeds that of a routine turnaround.