EIL, Punj to bid for Libya refinery deal

State-run Engineers India and its private partner Punj Lloyd have made a $1.6-billion dollars joint bid for revamp of the Azzawiya refinery in Libya.

"We are the sole bidder and expect a decision in next couple of months," EIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Rohtagi said here.

Azzawiya is owned by Libya's state-run National Oil Corp and currently processes 100,000 barrels per day. The Libyan government plans to increase capacity at the refinery to 122,800 barrels per day, work for which is expected to begin early next year.

Rohtagi said EIL and Punj Lloyd are equal partners in the consortium that bid for the engineering, procurement, construction and management contract.

"We are supposed to operate the refinery for a period of 6-months after completion of the expansion to stabilize it. The refinery will be then handed back to the Libyan company," he said.

Azzawiya Oil Refinery Company, a subsidiary of Libyan National Oil Company, is implementing its revamp and modernization programme.

The Azzawiya Oil Refinery (ARC), the second largest oil refinery in Libya, is considering the installation of a new residual fluidized catalytic cracker unit; Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) facilities and an additional sulfur treatment plant.

This is part of Libya's 3.5-billion dollar programme aimed at modernizing its refinery infrastructure over the next 5 years.