RIL to raise petrochem capacity

Reliance Industries is looking at becoming the fourth largest producer of polypropylene in the world in two years, chairman Mukesh Ambani said at the company's 32nd AGM in Mumbai today.

Speaking to shareholders, Ambani said the last few years had been spent in integrating petrochemical building blocks, intermediates and final products. Further, the company had focused on integrating acquisitions such as IPCL, Nocil and SM Dyechem.

"As a result we are able to successfully face competition from Middle East producers, who enjoy highly subsidised feedstocks and other financial concessions," he said.

Ambani said in April 2006, Reliance expanded the capacity of its Jamnagar polypropylene plant by 280,000 tonnes a year.

By 2008, a further 900,000 tonne per year of polypropylene capacity would be added to the new export-oriented refinery of Reliance Petroleum, he said. All this would make Reliance the fourth largest polypropylene producer in the world, he said.

Ambani also outlined specific petrochemical plans: a new butadiene facility at Hazira with 140,000 tonne per year capacity, expansion of the Jamnagar paraxylene expansion by 310,000 tonne per year and an additional 270,000 tonne per year of benzene at Jamnagar by deploying a `new generation catalyst'.

On polyesters, Ambani said the company would go beyond meeting the needs of the textile industry to providing solutions to the packaging, paper and construction industries.

In addition to making apparel grade polyesters, Reliance will develop a whole range of technical and performance polyesters. "The acquisition of Trevira Fibres and its integration gives Reliance access to a huge intellectual property portfolio to build upon," he said.

Ambani said Reliance recently commissioned the world's largest polyester expansion project. He said 500,000 tonne of polyester capacity was brought on stream in a record 18 months. "This takes the polyester capacity under Reliance's control to 2 million tonne a year," he said.

He pointed out that Reliance now controlled 4 per cent of global capacity and 6 per cent of global production share.

"As I speak to you here, my colleagues are engaged in the commissioning of a 730,000 tonne per year purified terepthalic acid (PTA) plant at Hazira," Ambani said, adding, the plant would be in commercial production in the next few weeks.