Reliance Petroleum refinery goes on stream

Reliance Petroleum has announced the commissioning of its refinery in a Special Economic Zone at Jamnagar, Gujarat in India. With a crude oil processing capacity of 580,000 barrels of oil per day, the company ranks as the 6th largest refinery in the world and is also amongst the world's most complex refineries. RPL commenced its crude processing on 25 December 2008. The secondary processing units are now under synchronization and commissioning. The entire refinery complex is expected to attain full capacity shortly. The commissioning of the RPL refinery catapults Reliance into the league of the largest refiners globally, both in terms of complex refining capacity and earnings potential. With the completion of the RPL refinery, Jamnagar has emerged as the Refining Hub of the World' with the largest refining complex with an aggregate refining capacity 1.24 million barrels of oil per day in any single location in the world. The state-of-the-art, globally competitive RPL refinery has been completed in 36 months from concept to commissioning, which is a new benchmark for building a grass-root refinery of this scale and complexity. This refinery has been built with a significant capital cost competitive advantage. This record has been achieved in spite of the significant shortfall in engineering and construction resources that has impacted most other refinery projects globally. RPL achieved the milestone by leveraging the project management skills of the Reliance group together with world-class implementation partners like Bechtel UOP and Foster Wheeler amongst others.