Reliance's ethylene output to go up by 200,000 tpa

25 Aug '17

2 min read

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is expecting its ethylene production to go up by 200,000 tonnes per annum due to import of ethane from the US for use as feedstock at its petrochemical plants in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Using imported ethane in place of naphtha would also increase RIL’s petrochemicals operating profit by $300 million a year.

Ethane is a natural gas component that is expected to be produced in large volumes in North America after the shale gas revolution, RIL COO for Petrochemicals Business Vipul Shah told mediapersons in Mumbai. RIL has signed contracts for ethane imports from the US for 20 years.

In the current fiscal, RIL will import 1.6 million tonnes of ethane from the US. The company has already begun receiving consignment or cargo of ethane from US.

Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) are used to transport liquefied ethane from the US to the Gujarat Chemical Port Terminal Company Ltd terminal at Dahej, Gujarat. In 2014, RIL had placed order for six VLECs with Samsung Heavy Industries Pvt Ltd’s shipyards in Korea. Of these, two vessels—Ethane Crystal and Ethane Emerald—were delivered last year.

RIL has invested $1.6 billion in ethane business so far, Shah said. Besides ships, the investment includes pipeline and port infrastructure. The company expects to recover this investment in less than four years. (RKS)

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