The Hindu : Business : Reliance to commission new Jamnagar refinery this year

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Reliance to commission new Jamnagar refinery this year

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: PAUL NORONHA

QUANTUM LEAP: Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries, with his wife Nita on his way to attend the company’s annual meeting in Mumbai on Thursday.

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries is now on the verge of a quantum leap in one of its several growth platforms, energy, Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said here on Thursday.

“Two large projects, founded on the energy growth platform, will be commissioned in the second half of this financial year. They will mark a historic milestone in Reliance’s leap to global heights,” said Mr. Ambani while addressing the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) here. According to him, the Jamnagar refinery will create the largest refining site in the world. Commissioning of oil and gas production systems will make Reliance one of the largest deep-water international oil and gas companies in the world. In addition, the East-West pipeline gas transmission system, built by Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Limited, will connect Indian towns and cities with its gas resources.

Mr. Ambani said, “gas sales, which will commence this year, will be at a wellhead price equivalent to $25.2 per barrel of crude oil as compared to the current market price of $135 a barrel of crude oil.”

Four years ago, Reliance embarked on setting up petroleum retail outlets all across the country. And it garnered a 14 per cent share of the diesel market in India in a short time.

“However, as crude oil prices began to rise dramatically to a record high, the Union Government decided to provide subsidies only to the public sector petroleum retailing companies. Absence of a level playing field between private and public sector petroleum retailing companies gave rise to an unviable situation. Therefore, Reliance had no alternative but to suspend sales of petrol and diesel from its retail outlets, especially because of the high price environment,” Mr. Ambani said.

However, he stated that, Reliance remains committed to the long-term potential of the petroleum retail business, both in India and overseas.

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