This upgradation will be implemented in a phased manner over the next decade to meet the rapidly increasing demand for petrochemicals, in India and the region, says Mukesh Ambani
With fossil fuels losing some of its sheen in the recent years, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has increased its focus towards oil-to-chemicals conversion.
Addressing the 41st annual general meeting of the company, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said that as the world migrates from fossil fuel to renewable energy, RIL will further maximise oil-to-chemicals conversion and upgrade all its fuels to high value petrochemicals. "This upgradation will be implemented in a phased manner over the next decade to meet the rapidly increasing demand for petrochemicals, in India and the region." he said.
Commenting on the DTA gasification complex start-up and stabilisation project in Jamnagar, Ambani said it has been accomplished in less than 120 days as against typical 9-12 months required for a project of this magnitude and complexity globally. "The gasification project will eliminate the dependence of the refinery on imported natural gas and add value to our profitability, particularly in a high oil price scenario." Ambani said. RIL has invested about $4.6 billion in the project for converting the captive petcoke to synthetic gas, which can be used to generate power, steam and hydrogen as an alternative to using of expensive imported LNG. An analyst said this will help in restarting of gas-based power plants which have remained stranded in recent years due to fuel shortage. "The demand for gas is never an issue." an analyst said.
On the its JV with British energy major BP, RIL said that it will continue to deploy many advanced technologies at its KG D6 block, expecting gas production to start in year 2020 and reaching full production of 30-35 million metric standard cubic metre per day (mmscmd) by 2022. Further, the company is looking at source and distribute gas to Indian consumers, including in cities, it said.
Talking about coal-bed methane (CBM) production, the company said it has crossed 1 mmscmd level last year and the second phase of development has started with an aim to double the current production. An analyst said, "They were supposed to double the production to 2 mmscmd this year itself, but it did not happen."
The company management is also proposing a cross-border merger of Reliance Holding USA (RHUSA) with RIL, thereby integrating the US gas resources with the Indian market as it has done with ethane for petrochemicals.
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