Why RIL is upbeat about petrochemicals even as it moves out of auto fuels

The company's oil-to-chemical strategy assumes significance in the face of an electric vehicle-dominated future

India's largest private sector oil company will be moving out of automobile fuels. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) has lined up an oil-to-chemical strategy through which it will produce only petrochemicals and jet fuel from its Jamnagar refinery complex, the world's largest refinery at a single location. 

The refinery's current product mix is dominated by petrol, diesel, LPG, aviation turbine fuel (ATF), LPG, naphtha and other value-added fuels. According to an estimate by the Boston Consulting Group, investments worth around $20 billion are lined up for petrochemical-cum-refinery projects in India, excluding the $45 billion West Coast refinery, in which Saudi