December 04, 2008

RIL and Essar to make Jamnagar world’s biggest petroleum refining hub

It is reported that Reliance Industries Limited and Essar Oil are all set to create the world’s biggest petroleum refining hub as part of plans to expand their plants at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Essar is doing a USD 6 billion expansion plan to more than triple capacity at its refinery, while Reliance is working on plans to almost double capacity.

According to figures compiled by Fesharaki Associates Consulting & Technical Services of Singapore, the expansion projects will bring their combined refining capacity at Jamnagar to 1.9 million barrels a day, the largest in the world in a single location, outstripping hubs such as Rotterdam and Singapore and those in China and South Korea.

The plants at Jamnagar will mostly handle crude imported from the Middle East for refining and re export, underlining India’s growing role as an off shoring hub not only for computer services but also for more traditional industries.