MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will invest about USD16 billion to expand petrochemical production capacity and lower feed and fuel costs to boost profits, said Plastemart.
According to a report by Barclays Equity Research, RIL is investing USD4.6 bln in an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project that will convert captive petrocoke to synthetic gas (syngas) which can be used to generate power, steam and hydrogen, which currently are being produced using expensive imported LNG. Refinery off-gas from this unit will be used to extract petrochemical compounds like ethane, ethylene, propylene, butanes and propanes at a USD4.5 bln Refinery off-gas cracker (ROGC). Another USD5 bln is being spent on expanding polyester production capacity. USD1.5 bln will go towards importing ethane from US to replace higher cost propane imports and naphtha. The projects will be completed by FY-18.
As MRC informed previously, RIL had announced that it would invest over Rs 100,000 crore in expansion of its petrochemical capacities and adding value to its refining business. Besides, in October 2012, the company unveiled its plans to expand capacity at its refineries in the western state of Gujarat.
Reliance is also building one of the world’s largest ethylene crackers taking advantage of refinery integration at Jamnagar. This project will be commissioned in H2-2016 and would nearly double the ethylene capacity to 3.3 mln tpa.
Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. The company's polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.MRC