Business

RIL set to begin test run at new refinery

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is all set to begin test run of its new oil refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat that would help boost supply of oil products. “The refinery is a few days, if not months, away from commissioning,” RIL President (Refinery Business) P. Raghavendran said here on Friday.

Without divulging the date of commissioning, he said they were as per their December 2008 schedule. The refinery, set up at a cost of around $6 billion, will be commissioned in phases. The new unit is coming up in a Special Economic Zone adjacent to RIL’s existing 6.6-lakh barrels a day refinery at Jamnagar.

The refinery, in which Chevron Corp holds a 5 per cent stake, is equipped to process cheap, low-grade crude into gasoline and diesel that meet strict Western standards. Another senior Reliance Petroleum official said, initially, the refinery would produce Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel and later upgrade to Euro-V. Fuel from the refinery will be mostly exported to the U.S. and Europe. The company is also looking at other markets for exports.

Mr. Raghavendran, who was speaking at the India Energy Conference, said the two refineries together with Essar Oil’s 2.5-lakh bpd refinery at Vadinar would emerge as the largest source of diesel, petrol and aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Reliance believes it can compete with the best in the world, he added.

While the company’s existing refinery had already been converted into only-for-exports unit, the new refinery would be selling all the fuel in overseas markets. The two refineries together would produce 24 million tonnes of diesel and 10 million tonnes of petrol, he added. “The two refineries at Jamnagar will become the single largest source of jet fuel, gasoline and diesel for global markets. This will reduce pressure on prices by adding volume,” he added.

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