Reliance Petroleum commissions 580,000 bpd refinery

26 Dec '08

4 min read

Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) today announced the commissioning of its refinery in a Special Economic Zone at Jamnagar, Gujarat in India. With a crude oil processing capacity of 580,000 barrels of oil per day, RPL ranks as the 6th largest refinery in the world and is also amongst the world's most complex refineries.

RPL commenced its crude processing on 25th December 2008. The secondary processing units are now under synchronization and commissioning. The entire refinery complex is expected to attain full capacity shortly. The commissioning of the RPL refinery catapults Reliance into the league of the largest refiners globally, both in terms of complex refining capacity and earnings potential.

With the completion of the RPL refinery, Jamnagar has emerged as the 'Refining Hub of the World' with the largest refining complex with an aggregate refining capacity of 1.24 million barrels of oil per day in any single location in the world.

The state-of-the-art, globally competitive RPL refinery has been completed in 36 months from concept to commissioning, which is a new benchmark for building a grass-root refinery of this scale and complexity. This refinery has been built with a significant capital cost competitive advantage.

This record has been achieved in spite of the significant shortfall in engineering and construction resources that has impacted most other refinery projects globally. RPL achieved the milestone by leveraging the project management skills of the Reliance group together with world-class implementation partners like Bechtel, UOP and Foster Wheeler amongst others.

Some of the significant features of the RPL refinery include:
• RPL refinery is one of the world's most complex refineries with a Nelson Complexity index of 14.0. This will enable the refinery to process heavy-crude varieties and produce superior quality products that meet stringent specifications, even beyond the forthcoming Euro IV norms.
• The high complexity will also present a significant competitive advantage in the current industry landscape of increasingly heavy and sour new crude discoveries. In addition, the widening light-heavy differentials in recent years will add to its competitiveness.
• RPL refinery is located adjacent to RIL's existing refinery and petrochemicals complex, which is amongst the largest and most efficient complex in the world. Through sharing of best practices and leveraging the existing infrastructure, RPL will stand to gain in the areas of operational efficiency, logistics, crude sourcing, product placement and risk management.
• The RPL refinery is located on the west coast of India which is in close proximity to the Middle East, the largest crude oil producing region in the world. This is expected to result in lower ship turnaround time and reduced crude freight costs.

Commenting on this historic milestone, Mr Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Petroleum Limitedsaid; “I am extremely proud of the entire team at Reliance which has worked together and commissioned this large and complex refinery in record time, which yet again demonstrates the strength of our project management skills. The entire team has shown admirable commitment, dedication and teamwork to achieve this milestone.

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