Introduction: Being the largest consumer of oil and gas in the world, India is definitely positioned as vibrant market on the global market eventually attracting a large number of organisations to set their foot in the Indian market. But Honeywell UOP has established its roots in India since a time a now and has been witnessing a rapid growth in their business. Mike Banach, Managing Director Honeywell UOP, India shares with us the experience in Indian market, strategies that helped them to swim swiftly in the complex refineries and petrochemical plants, and insights on Energy 2050.
OAJ: Since its inception in India, Honeywell UOP has been established various businesses, could you please brief us about UOP business as well as how has been the experience so far in India?
Banach: India is one of the fastest growing economies and one of the largest consumers of oil and gas, in the world. The refining industry has seen steady growth backed by a strong demand for natural resources. Keeping that in mind, refiners are increasing capacity to keep pace with expected growth in fuel demand. India’s refining capacity addition of 170,000 bpd at the Kochi and Bathinda plants, along with Indian Oil Corp’s 300,000 bpd Paradip refinery, are operating at a full rate. Last year Reliance Industries, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, in western India, declared 30 percent higher capacity of its export-focused plant.
Honeywell UOP has been the recognized leader in process technology for the refining and petrochemicals industry. These are the chemical processes that turn oil and gas into fuels and petrochemicals. UOP has been a strong partner with both state-owned and private Indian companies to help expand the country’s refining and petrochemicals sector while improving efficiency and enhancing environmental performance and regulatory compliance.
UOP continues to invest in new technologies to meet growing demand for more efficient and diverse energy sources. With its broad portfolio, UOP is well positioned to provide India with latest refining, petrochemicals, natural gas and renewable technologies to help energy producers meet demands.
OAJ: Honeywell UOP is widely known for being a strong leader in the refinery industry, could you please share your strategies that helped your organisation to swim swiftly in the complex refineries and petrochemical plants?
Banach: To meet the growing demand, refineries are gradually moving towards a smart production regime to increase productivity and efficiency. Refiners are increasing their flexibility in product slate, along with integration with petrochemicals for future sustenance. India will add 113 million mt/ year (2.27 million b/d) of capacity by the way of brownfield expansions, along with diversification to petrochemicals production by 2030.
With a strong commitment to the India market, UOP has been a strong partner with both state-owned and private Indian companies to help expand the country’s refining and petrochemicals sector while improving efficiency and enhancing environmental performance and regulatory compliance.
Two of our largest global customers are in India – IOCL and RIL. UOP built India’s first refinery (in 1931) and has deeply invested in Indian oil industry ever since. UOP technologies are deployed in every Indian refinery. Honeywell has invested $223M in for the Bangalore campus and we are nurturing India’s best technology and engineering minds to produce globally-relevant solutions. The Honeywell India Technology Center (HITC) is one such testament.
OAJ: Some months back, the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan the oil industry will make BS-VI fuel available across India by April 2020 as committed, so how is Honeywell UOP preparing to establish its regime in the new world?
Banach: We are seeing a big market on the refining side due to upcoming opportunities for BS-VI fuel. UOP is very well positioned, from a technology standpoint, to provide what the refiners need to meet these specifications. We have been helping the public and private sector refiners in India to achieve these goals. UOP is committed to providing solutions to help automobile manufacturers transition to BS-VI regulations with improvements in fuel efficiency, productivity and cost.
UOP has helped IOCL in the transition by providing new PSA units to refineries at Gujarat, Panipat, and Mathura, and has upgraded existing hydrogen plants with UOP’s Polybed PSA technology at refineries in Haldia, Guwahati and Gujarat. Together, the six projects will generate 166,000 tonnes per year of new hydrogen capacity, essential for the refining process to produce clean-burning fuels, including those that meet the Indian government’s strict Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) environmental standards.
UOP is already helping the state-run oil marketer, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), to meet BS-VI emission standards. HPCL will be using UOP technologies to upgrade its Vishakhapatnam refinery in Andhra Pradesh. The project includes licensing, basic engineering design, and other associated services for a Penex isomerization unit, which helps make cleaner burning, high-octane petrol, and a Unicracking hydrocracking unit to produce cleaner burning diesel. Together, the two processes will significantly enhance HPCL’s ability to supply petrol and diesel that meets the Indian government’s new BS-VI clean fuels standard, and meets growing demand for those fuels. They also improve gross refining margins by converting low-value feed stocks to high-value transportation fuels.
OAJ: According to you, what is the future gateway for growth and innovation in the Indian oil and gas industry?
Banach: We see strong growth in the petrochemical sector in the region. India’s growth for refined fuel is quite strong and expected to remain strong. This is coupled with the fact that many refinery expansions are taking place, like the upcoming west coast refinery and petrochemical plants. Also, the other big thing that is coming quickly to India is petrochemicals growth. There is a lot of demand for these — from propylene to poly-propylene, ethylene to poly-ethylene, and PTA to PET — driving the need for both standalone petrochemical plants and integrated refineries with petrochemical plants.
UOP has a rich legacy of industry-leading research and development work for the oil and gas sector across the world, for more than 100 years. With digitization of refineries achieving scale, we work closely with customers to identify and address their challenges with real-time, actionable insights, while defining key outcomes and KPIs for their success. This helps us deliver the very best to them. Our long-standing experience in the region, combined with a continued focus on innovation and creating new technologies enables us to ensure that customers have the right solutions in place to increase efficiency, productivity and improve safety in their operations.
OAJ: With the Government of India’s announcement of launching 1000 e-buses in Delhi and allocation of 2% to renewable energy in the Budget 2018-2019 and numerous other policies to encourage the electric cars and vehicles by 2030 in India, how do you foresee the market?
Banach: India still has a lot of untapped potential in the oil and gas sector and the growing demand for petrochemicals proves that. A healthy economy and new infrastructure will also spur growth in the automobile sector. The refining business will continue to grow on the back of demand for petrochemicals.
Electric Vehicles are at a very nascent stage in India with many hurdles to cross, when it comes to large-scale adoption. The high cost of EVs and lack of infrastructure are some of the challenges. Where gasoline automobiles enjoy a ubiquitous supply infrastructure, EVs will require not just the installation of millions of quick charging stations, but the construction of new generation and distribution capacity for those charging stations. There is no doubt that the EV market will grow, but the growth will be gradual and small compared to the growth of the refining business.
OAJ: Could you share your opinion on Digital Transformation initiative in Indian oil and gas industry, also do you think digitalisation will change the future of Indian industrial sector?
Banach India is in the midst of a digital revolution, driven by the government’s vision to digitize the economy, citizens, and infrastructure. Industry 4.0 or the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) has brought about dramatic changes in the way we live as well as how the oil and gas industry functions.
Earlier, projects were executed in a serial fashion. However, now, customers are more interested in speeding up projects. Adding to all of this, digitization has come up as a big change. These days, everything in refineries is automated, and Honeywell’s connected solutions – software based services — will play a major role in improving plant performance and profitability.
OAJ: Finally, we request you to share your insights on Energy 2050 and where do you see India on the same?
Banach: In the last few years, India has achieved impressive growth in its energy generation, capacity and distribution. There is an increased focus on renewable energy with a focus on reducing dependence on fossil fuels and achieving energy security. While it is unlikely that we will completely phase out conventional sources of energy, the emphasis should be on achieving a healthy energy mix through a combination of traditional and alternative fuel sources and reducing dependence on oil and gas.
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