Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) owned by Mukesh Ambani has started work in its $4-billion coke gasification project at its world’s largest refinery complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This project is to convert coal and coke, the lowest-cost fossil fuels, into gas.
“The company has been exploring the coke gasification project for about five years now but it was not very economically viable. RIL sold pet coke in the open market for some time as it gave good returns. Now, with LNG prices soaring and availability of natural gas a challenge, synthesis gas (syngas) is the best option available,” said a RIL official.
Apart from this project, the energy giant is acquiring new energy sources for its refinery and petrochemicals project in Gujarat. As a part of this expansion, recently an “algae-to-oil” project was started at a 100-acre facility near Jamnagar. The expectation of the company is to reach at a production capacity of 100 barrels of oil a day. In the trial phase, the production reached the level of 10 barrels a day. Algae oil can be used to make bio-diesel or other refinery feed stocks or even for blending with crude. The company is keen to set up a refinery for bio-fuel, given all the conditions are satisfied. Vouching this interest, Mukesh Ambani spoke about synthesis gas (syngas) and its implications on the refining business in the annual general meeting held last month. He also added that as part of pet coke-gassification project, pet coke at the Jamnagar refinery will be upgraded to syngas for further use as fuels and for hydrogen and chemicals production.
According to a speculation, RIL is likely to completely switch to syngas once the coke gasification project is completed. RIL has planned to install eight gassifiers at Jamnagar, each having a capacity to produce 2.35 mmscmd of syngas. This will be in addition to the current refining capacity of 1.3 million barrels of oil per day at Jamnagar refinery.
In addition to these developments, RIL has envisioned $4 billion for a petrochemicals project in Jamnagar that will include a cracker unit. This cracker will produce various products like ethylene, propylene, low-density polyethylene and monoethylene glycol. Throwing more light on the project, Mukesh Ambani had said that this project is expected to be commissioned in the second half of financial year 2016 and would nearly double the ethylene capacity to 3.3 million tons a year. RIL will also bid for 25% stake in a proposed LNG project being set up by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation at Mudra in Gujarat. This investment in Mudra project could be a strategic investment plan by RIL to gain hold in all the avenues of oil and gas sectors.