L&T bags Rs.11.5 bn power plant contract from IOC

India's top engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) won a Rs.11.5 billion contract from Indian Oil Corp. for setting up a captive cogeneration power plant in Panipat, Haryana.

The company will manage the project and also build engineering and other facilities of the naphtha cracker plant being built by the state-owned refinery at Panipat, 100 km north of New Delhi.

With the contract IOC's share in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) rose nearly 1 percent to Rs.2,424 Thursday.

"The power plant comprising five gas turbines, five heat recovery steam generators, three steam turbines, two utility boilers and sophisticated control systems to ensure uninterrupted supply of power and steam to the naphtha cracker complex will be built by the end of 2009," the company said in a statement Thursday.

"It will process 2-2.3 million tonnes of naphtha to produce ethylene, propylene, benzene and pyrolysis gasoline."

This is the second major contract won by L&T for IOC's Panipat naphtha cracker project. L&T and the Toyo consortium had earlier bagged the turnkey contract for naphtha cracker and associated units.

IOC on Thursday also awarded a Rs.3.49 billion (.3 million) contract to Punj Lloyd Ltd, sending the engineering and construction firm's shares 2.5 percent higher. Its share climbed to Rs.757.75.

Punj Lloyd will build storage tanks and other facilities at the refinery's naphtha cracker plant at Panipat.

"The group is now the second largest engineering and construction major in the country in terms of the order book. Over 60 percent of Punj Lloyd's order backlog is now represented by projects based outside India," the company said.

IANS