Linde plc (Guildford, U.K.) announced that its entities in India have signed long-term agreements for the supply of industrial gases to Indian Oil Corp.’s. (IOCL) Panipat refinery in Northern India.
Linde’s entities will build, own and operate major new on-site facilities to supply hydrogen, nitrogen and compressed dry air to Indian Oil. The new on-site facilities will support the multi-billion-dollar expansion of the Panipat refinery from 15 to 25 million metric tons per year.
Industrial gases play several important roles in refining, whether removing sulfur to make clean fuels, cracking crude oil into various products or purging and cleaning process equipment and control instruments.
Panipat will be the second large-scale hydrogen plant which is built, owned and operated by Linde entities for Indian Oil. It will also be one of Linde’s largest on-site plants in India, with a total combined industrial gas production capacity of 142,200 cubic metres (Nm3) per hour. The plant is expected to start up in 2025.
In addition to supplying Indian Oil, the new on-site complex will cater for demand for nitrogen from companies across end markets including chemicals & energy and manufacturing.
“We won this project on the basis of the best-in-class efficiency offered by our technology, plus Linde’s track record of safely and reliably supplying our customers,” said Moloy Banerjee, President ASEAN & South Asia, Linde. “We look forward to building on our existing relationship with Indian Oil, while also increasing our network density in Northern India.”