RIL to import ethane from own shale assets in North America

Reliance Industries Ltd today announced it has executed storage and capacity agreements for liquefaction and export of ethane with a North American Terminal, which is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2016.

The company is implementing a project to source 1.5 MMTPA of Ethane from US to feed its crackers in India. "Reliance’s investments in Shale Gas and its existing crackers portfolio in India are a natural fit for sourcing Ethane from North America and shipping it to India to attain long term feedstock competitiveness," said a company release.

For the purpose of transporting liquefied ethane to India in a safe and cost efficient manner, Reliance has ordered six state-of-the-art Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) which will be the largest vessels ever built in the world. The ships are expected to be delivered starting last quarter of 2016 in synchronisation with the readiness of terminal in North America.

Reliance is also building a receiving and storage facility in India for liquefied ethane and pipeline to deliver ethane to our crackers.

The company said it would be upgrading its crackers to maximise cracking of Ethane, have maximum operational flexibility and capability to optimize feed stocks with complete control of supply chain. The project would significantly improve the long term competitiveness of our cracker portfolio through dedicated feedstock, enhanced margins, higher capacity and end-to-end integration, it said.