RIL commissions ethane facility at Dahej in Gujarat

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Tuesday announced it has completed its Ethan project with the commissioning of its ethane receipt & handling facilities and ethane cracking, at its Dahej Manufacturing Facility in Gujarat.

“Reliance is pleased to announce successful and flawless completion of its Ethane Project, including commissioning of its ethane receipt & handling facilities and ethane cracking, at its Dahej Manufacturing Facility in Gujarat in a world record time of less than three years,” the company said in a press statement on Wednesday. The company said it has started to receive ethane at all three manufacturing facilities- Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane.

RIL’s ethane project involved securing ethane refrigeration capacity in the US Gulf coast; delivery of dedicated Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) to carry ethane from the US Gulf Coast to the West Coast of India; construction of ethane receipt and handling facilities; laying pipelines and upgrading crackers (to receive ethane) at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane Manufacturing Facilities. “The execution of this project at this scale and magnitude is a first in the world,” the company said in its statement. In October 2016, the company raised a term loan of $573 million to partially finance the construction of its six very large ethane ships.

“The Shale Gas industry in North America has grown exponentially in the past 5 years. Consequently ethane has become one of the most competitively priced feedstock for US crackers. The supply of Ethane to our crackers at Dahej, Hazira and Nagothane will provide feedstock security and flexibility, enabling us to select the most optimal feed mix based on market conditions,” the statement said explaining the business rationale for the Ethane project.