Reliance Petroleum (RPL), a unit of Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries, may fully commission its 5,80,000 barrels per day only-for-exports refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat by March but is likely to start producing some products by next month, a source said.
The company is likely to begin trial runs at the refinery being set up in a Special Economic Zone, adjacent to its parent firm's existing 6,60,000 barrels per day refinery, in two weeks time and it may take 3-4 months for a unit of that size to become fully functional, the source said.
Reliance Industries' existing refinery began trial runs in July 1999 and was fully commissioned in October that year. "No refinery can be commissioned in one day or one week. It takes time."
RPL, however, insists that its contratual commitment was to start production by end 2008 which it is sticking to. It had never committed to fully commission the unit by that time. "The commissioning of the refinery is on track as per our stated schedule," a company spokesperson said.
Currently, pre-commissioning activities at the unit are underway and checks were being carried out. The crude distillation unit (CDU) may be ready to recieve crude oil by end of third week of December. CDU is the front end of a refinery which converts crude oil into various products like naphtha, kerosene, diesel and petrol.
It normally takes 8-10 days for the first product to come out for delivery from the day of starting crude processing, the source said, adding that the first product would so be in market by early January.