Maximizing Oil to Chemicals Conversion

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.