USTDA Advancing India's Production Of Cleaner Fuels

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to support their refinery modernisation efforts.

The agreement was signed at IOCL's headquarters by Sanjiv Singh, Director of Refineries at IOCL and John McCaslin, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy - New Delhi.

The program will help IOCL analyze options for optimizing its refining operations to produce cleaner fuels from its by-product streams, which will help the company improve efficiencies and reduce emissions at its refineries to meet Indian environmental standards.

"USTDA is excited to join efforts with IOCL, an important partner, as they seek to improve operational efficiency and expand the production of cleaner fuels," said Henry Steingass, Regional Director for South and Southeast Asia at USTDA. "We believe this is a great opportunity for U.S. Industry to continue to build on their relationship with IOCL."

The feasibility study will include a market, technical, economic and financial analysis of advanced technologies in order to help IOCL identify solutions for converting pet coke refinery by-products into cleaner chemical products and fuels. This project follows IOCL's participation in a USTDA reverse trade mission that brought Indian energy officials to the United States for meetings and site visits with U.S. companies focused on refinery modernization solutions.

The opportunity to conduct this USTDA-sponsored feasibility study will be competed through Federal Business Opportunities (FBO). A link to the FBO announcement will be posted to USTDA's website at www.ustda.gov. Interested U.S. firms should submit proposals according to the instructions in the FBO announcement.