Reliance Refinery Jamnagar
Reliance Petroleum Ltd or RPL (merged into Reliance Industries Ltd) started construction of its first refinery and petrochemical complex, DTA (domestic-tariff area) in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India, in 1996. The unit, said to be the largest refinery and petrochemicals complex ever built from the ground up, was operational in 1998 with an installed capacity of 33 million tonne per year (660,000 bbl/day) of crude.
A second phase of the refinery and petrochemicals complex, adjacent to the first in SEZ (Special Economic Zone) of Jamnagar was completed in 2008, making the combined Jamnagar refineries the world’s largest oil processing hub. The export-focused SEZ unit had a capacity to process 35.2 million tonne per year (580,000 bbl/day) of crude. Products from this refinery and the PP plant is exported to 30 countries, including in Europe and the US, Japan, China, the Middle East and other Southeast Asian markets.
The combined 68.2 million tonne (1.24 million bbl/day) capacity refinery and petrochemical complex houses some of the world’s largest units, such as the Fluidised Catalytic Cracker (FCC), Coker, Alkylation, Paraxylene, Polypropylene, Refinery offgas (ROG) cracker and Petcoke gasification plants.
The entire complex is spread over 31 square kilometers.
Project Financing
The overall project was built at a cost of $6 billion. RPL chose 14 international and domestic MLAs, namely, ABN Amro, Banc of America Securities, BNP Paribas, BTMU, Calyon, Citigroup, DBS Bank, DZ Bank, HSBC, Mizuho Financial Group, SMBC, Standard Chartered, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.
The company raised $600 million through an IPO and Chevron picked up a 5% stake (with an option to purchase a further 24% from Reliance Industries).
The balance of the financing for the $6 billion complex was provided by swelling the equity component to $2.5 billion and securing a further $2 billion in ECA loans.
Lead Contractors
Bechtel led the initial construction of the complex, which included the refinery. It worked in close collaboration with RPL throughout the completion of the project. Construction was also carried out by a number of Indian companies such as Dodsal, Larsen & Toubro, Punj Lloyd, Trafalgar House, and Simplex.
The Foxboro Company led the installation of the automation system for both the first and second refinery and petrochemical complexes.
Project Management
- Aker Kvaerner’s AK Process business provided the basic engineering and project management on the PP facility.
- Petron Engineering provided mechanical works for line one of the PP plant.
Technology
- Dow Global Technologies, a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, provided its Unipol process technology for the PP facility.
- Oil and gas business of GE supplied compression technology for the refinery and PP plant at Jamnagar.
- GE’s oil and gas facilities in Florence, Italy, manufactured three reciprocating compressors, along with two screw compressors that GE supplied.
- Metso Automation, a global engineering and technology company supplied valves and actuators for RPL’s PP plant.
- The paraxylene (PX) plant was built with state-of-the-art crystallization technology from BP which is highly energy efficient.
Merger with RIL
Chevron sold its 5% stake and RPL was merged with RIL in 2009.
Petrochemical Complex Capacity
The DTA petrochemical complex has a paraxylene (PX) production capacity of 1.5 millions tonne per year.
The second unit at Jamnagar SEZ has polypropylene (PP) capacity of 900,000 tonne per year. The PP plant is located adjacent to the Jamnagar Integrated Petrochemical Complex, in Gujarat. The PP is produced using propylene feedstock from the refinery complex.
In 2017, RIL doubled its paraxylene (PX) capacity by 2.2 million tonne per year at Jamnagar SEZ bringing its total paraxylene (PX) capacity to 4.2 million tonne per year.
Capacity Expansion at SEZ Reliance Jamnagar Refinery
In 2018, RIL has proposed to raise the installed capacity at SEZ Jamnagar unit to 41 million tonne of crude. At present, the SEZ has a capacity to process 35.2 million tonne of crude. The project proposal cleared Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) clearances in 2019.
The expansion will increase the installed capacity of the Jamnagar refinery to 74 million tonne of crude.
Product Line of Reliance Jamnagar Refinery
| Products | Applications |
| Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) | Domestic and industrial fuel |
| Propylene | Feedstock for polypropylene |
| Naphtha | Feedstock for petrochemicals |
| Gasoline | Transport fuel |
| Jet /Aviation Turbine Fuel | Aviation fuel |
| Superior Kerosene Oil | Domestic fuel |
| High-Speed Diesel | Transport fuel |
| Sulphur | Feedstock for fertilizers and pharmaceuticals |
| Petroleum Coke | Fuel for power plants and cement plants |