Reliance startup makes biggest fuel complex
Reliance Industries Ltd (RELIANCE.NS)
on Thursday began processing crude oil at a new refinery, almost
doubling company output and creating the world s biggest refining
complex just as global oil demand retreats. After reaching full
capacity of 580,000-barrels-per-day (bpd), the $6 billion project will
make the oil complex in Jamnagar in Gujarat the world s single biggest
supplier of fuels to the global market, pumping out 1.24 million bpd of
ultra-clean fuels to Europe, Africa and the United States. The
secondary processing units are now under synchronisation and
commissioning. The entire refinery complex is expected to attain full
capacity shortly, the company said in a statement. The project is the
creation of CEO Mukesh Ambani, who helped break India s heavy reliance
on imported fuel a decade ago with Reliance s first 660,000 bpd plant,
a cash cow for the firm during a profit boom over the past four years.
Trade and industry sources earlier said that for tax reasons the new
plant was not expected to begin significant exports until April, when
the new fiscal year begins in the country. While the new refinery s low
cost, high sophistication and global reach mean it should turn a profit
by crowding out less efficient export-oriented rivals in Europe or
Asia, it enters a market utterly different from the one Ambani might
have envisioned three and a half years ago when he unveiled the
project. We will leverage our competitive advantages of scale,
complexity and capability to process a wide range of crude oils and
flexibility to produce high quality transportation fuels and create
significant value for all its stakeholders, Ambani said in the
statement. Run by subsidiary Reliance Petroleum, in which Chevron Corp
holds a 5 percent stake, the refinery will at a stroke more than
satisfy the world s additional oil product demand next year, if indeed
the International Energy Agency s current forecast is not further cut
by a deep global recession. It is not a circumstance Ambani will
relish, but it is also not one that will be unfamiliar. Reuters
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