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Reliance commissions world's largest paraxylene unit in Jamnagar

Reliance Industries Limited has commissioned the first line of world's largest paraxylene plant at its Jamnagar-based petrochemicals complex in Gujarat, ahead of schedule.

The remaining two lines are also expected to be commissioned over the next few weeks, a company spokesman said in Ahmedabad today.

The plant is producing paraxylene of international quality with a purity-level of 99.9 per cent. RIL's paraxylene plant is being set up with UOP (USA) technology, an acknowledged world leader in the field of refinery and petrochemicals technologies.

The plant from RIL has an aggregate capacity to produce 1.4 million metric tonnes per annum, comprising three lines, with a capacity to produce 4.67 lakh MTA each.

With this, RIL will emerge as the third largest producer of paraxylene in the world after BP-Amoco and Exxon-Mobil, upon commissioning of all three lines. A large part of the paraxylene output from this plant is meant for captive consumption at RIL's peritaphthalic acid manufacturing facilities at its Patalganga and Hazira petrochemicals complexes.

RIL currently has an aggregate PTA capacity of around one million MTA.

The entire production from RIL's paraxylene plant is likely to be consumed captively, over the next few months, with no significant quantities available for exports till the first quarter of year 2000, the spokesman pointed out.

The plant is fully integrated with the group's recently commissioned world's largest grassroots refinery (capacity - 27 million MTA) at the same complex, with the key feedstock-reformate becoming available from the refinery. RIL's paraxylene plant's global scale and feedstock integration makes it one of the most competitive paraxylene production units in the world.

The Reliance group has invested approximately Rs 240 billion (about $ 6 billion) in various projects at the Jamnagar complex comprising the refinery, integrated petrochemicals complex, ports, captive power facilities and other related infrastructure.

This represents the largest investment ever made by an Indian group at any single location in India.

RIL is India's largest private sector company in terms of sales, profits as well as assets. In the financial year 1998-99, it had sales of Rs 145.53 billion ($ 3.4 billion) and net profit of Rs 17.04 billion ($ 402 million).

UNI

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