Reliance to deliver natural gas from KG-D6 project by 2020: Mukesh Ambani

Addressing RIL's 41st Annual General Meeting here, Ambani said the company's hydrocarbon business has further scaled up its capacities

Noting that Reliance Industries (RIL) has successfully commissioned both the world's largest paraxylene and off-gas cracker facilities at its refinery in Jamnagar in Gujarat, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Thursday that the company is looking at delivering natural gas from its KG Basin offshore project by 2020.

Addressing RIL's 41st Annual General Meeting in Mumbai, Ambani said the company's hydrocarbon business has further scaled up its capacities during the period in consideration "to become more profitable, integrated and predictable in its earnings profile".

"We are now nearing the end of our largest-ever investment at Jamnagar and have successfully commissioned and stabilized the world's largest paraxylene complex.

"Reliance is the second largest paraxylene (PX) producer in the world and Jamnagar has the distinction of being the largest manufacturing facility of PX in the world with 4.2 million tonne (MT) capacity," he said.

"We also commissioned the largest off-gas cracker complex in the world. Using our refinery off-gasses as feedstock, this cracker is the most cost competitive ethylene cracker, globally."

During 2017-18, RIL's refining and petrochemical businesses posted record levels of profitability on the back of expanded capacities, high operating rates, improved cost competitiveness and better margins, the company reported in June.

Its refining and marketing segment posted a 3.2 per cent increase in operating profit which climbed to its highest ever level of Rs 25,869 crore (around $4 billion).

"Both the paraxylene and cracker complexes are already running substantially higher than their design capacity," he said.

"The butyl rubber project will be commissioned later in 2018. We are also adding new high value materials like composites and carbon fibre to our portfolio," he added.

On the exploration business, the Chairman drew attention to RIL's joint investment plan with British energy major BP to monetise over three trillion cubic feet of gas from new fields in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin D6 block on the eastern offshore.

"We will deploy many advanced technologies to start gas production in 2020 and reaching full production of 30-35 million standard cubic meters per day (MSCMD) by 2022," he said.

"Our gas marketing JV (joint venture) with BP is looking for opportunities to source and distribute gas to Indian consumers including in cities," he added.

Ambani said that RIL's coal bed methane (CBM) gas production crossed 1 MSCMD level last year.

"We have started the second phase of CBM development to more than double the current production," he said.

The company is proposing a cross-border merger of Reliance Holdings USA (RHUSA) with RIL to integrate the US gas resources with the Indian market, he added.