Reliance Industries mulls revival of petrochemical plant

03-Jun-10

Reliance Industries Ltd. may start work on a multibillion-dollar chemical plant this year, reviving a project to meet India’s surging demand for the raw materials for plastics, drugs and textiles, as per Bloomberg. A decision about the final blueprint of the plant, believed to have a capacity of 1.6 mln tpa of chemicals such as ethylene and propylene, is reported to being worked out. The plant will source feedstock from gases and other byproducts produced at Reliance’s Jamnagar facility, and is expected to take about four years to build. “This will come at a good time. We are oversupplied right now but beyond 2011, there’s a sharp drop-off in terms of new capacity,” said Sriharsha Pappu, a Dubai-based analyst with HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd. “In the next 3 to 4 years, we could very easily be undersupplied. Demand for petrochemicals tends to grow in line with GDP. Assuming global economic growth of up to 4%, the industry needs to be adding about 20 plants globally over a five year period on average to keep pace with demand.”