Maximizing oil to chemicals conversion for profitability
Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), which began its ‘oil to
chemicals’ journey with the inception of the Jamnagar complex, is poised to
make further progress down this path of value addition.
In 1996-1999, the company challenged the industry paradigm and
set a new benchmark by maximizing propylene and aromatics production. After the
commissioning of the world’s largest refinery off gas cracker, the paraxylene (PX)
complex, and most recently the petroleum coke (petcoke) gasification project,
the company has redefined oil to chemicals integration.
Speaking at the 41st annual general meeting of the company in
Mumbai on July 5, 2018, RIL Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Mukesh Ambani,
stressed that given the rapidly increasing demand for petrochemicals in the
country, maximizing oil to chemicals conversion “will play a catalytic role in
determining profitability of hydrocarbons businesses of the future.”
“As the world migrates from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we
will further maximize this oil to chemicals conversion and upgrade all of our
fuels to high value petrochemicals. This up-gradation will be implemented in a
phased manner over the next decade to meet the rapidly increasing demand for
petrochemicals, in India and the region. The hydrocarbon business is thus
poised for robust value creation and exciting times ahead,” he stated in his
address.
In 2018, the Jamnagar completes 20 years of operations. It has
expanded manifold in scale, complexity, scope and size since it was
commissioned as the world’s largest greenfield refinery in 1998. At the company
nears the end of its largest-ever investment at the site, it can look back upon
the creation of what is today the world’s largest PX complex, with a capacity
of 4.2-mtpa; as well as a world’s largest off-gas cracker complex, using
refinery off-gasses as feedstock, for making polymers at an enviable cost
position. “Both the para-xylene and Cracker complexes are already running
substantially higher than their design capacity,” Mr. Ambani said.
Record speed of startup
The gasification project, he added, will eliminate the
dependence of the refinery on imported natural gas and add value to profitability,
particularly in a high oil price scenario. “I am pleased to share that the DTA
Gasification complex startup and stabilization was accomplished in a record
time of less than 120 days against a typical 9 to 12 months period required for
a project of this magnitude and complexity by global peers.”
While Butyl rubber project will be commissioned later this year,
RIL will be adding a new line of materials to its portfolio: composites and
carbon fibre. These high-value materials will cater to the growing needs of
India’s transportation and alternate energy sectors. “All these projects
position your company amongst the leading and most-diversified and integrated
producer of materials globally,” Mr. Ambani added.
Contributing to a circular economy
Dwelling on the need to transition to a leader in the emerging
circular economy and to become one of the largest recyclers of plastics in
India, the RIL Chairman pointed out that the company is already the largest
recycler of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in India, recycling over 2 billion
PET bottles annually.
The versatility and complexity of the Jamnagar refinery, he
noted, will enable it to process challenged heavy crudes, to produce fuels
compliant with IMO 2020 guidelines for sulphur specifications of bunker fuel.
Upstream developments
Speaking on the company’s upstream plans, Mr. Ambani noted that
the RIL, along with its joint venture partner BP, “continues to optimize its
India upstream business by pursuing integrated development in KG D6 Block. In these
gas field developments, we will deploy many advanced technologies to start gas
production in 2020 and reaching full production of 30-35 MMSCMD by 2022.”
The gas marketing JV with BP is looking for opportunities to
source and distribute gas to Indian consumers including in cities. While the
Coal-Bed Methane (CBM) production crossed 1 MMSCMD level last year, the second
phase of CBM development is expected to more than double the current
production. Reliance is also weighing a cross-border merger of Reliance Holding
USA (RHUSA) with RIL to integrate the gas resources in America with the Indian
market, Mr. Ambani said.
Chemical Weekly Issue date: 17th July 2018
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