RPL plans setting up unit in Kuwait

In line with its plans to set up greenfield projects outside India, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group is considering setting up a polypropylene unit in Kuwait.

Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) has begun the spadework, and is in the process of completing necessary surveys for the project, company sources said.

The company already has operations in the Gulf states to market polypropylene. If this project fructifies, it will be Reliance's first unit outside India. The company is in talks with a couple of players to join in the polypropylene project.

The company is also in the process of recruiting manpower for the project, according to sources familiar with the developments.

Reliance is Asia's largest polypropylene manufacturer and with a combined capacity of over one million tonnes, it figures among the top eight polypropylene producers in the world. The company has a 70 per cent share in the Indian market and caters to three per cent of the world's consumption of polypropylene.

Third refinery

Reliance Industries (RIL) is also looking to set up a refinery project in Kuwait. "Reliance is exploring the Gulf region as an option for its proposed third refinery," the sources said.

Kuwait Petroleum Corp has said in the past that it was in talks with Reliance for a partnership in refining and petrochemicals projects together with Dow Chemicals. A Reliance spokesperson said that the company has been carrying out feasibility studies in various countries, including Kuwait, but he refused to comment on any specific project.

Exploring partnerships

RIL has also signed an MoU with GAIL to explore opportunities for petrochemical plants outside India.

RIL and GAIL are already working together in specific areas in the natural gas sector, as in gas pipelines and for city gas distribution.

Last year, the two companies listed ten countries, among them Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Vietnam, Australia, South Africa, and Russia, as likely locations for chemical projects of up to two million tonnes. At Jamnagar, RPL has completed 90 per cent of work on a new refinery coming up within an SEZ.

The refinery is likely to be commissioned in September this year.