Reliance Industries has signed shipping agreements with Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd (MOL), for transporting liquefied ethane from North America to India. MOL will supervise the construction of six Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs), ordered by Reliance. MOL will also operate and manage the vessels after these are built and delivered. In August 2014, RIL decided to source 1.5 mln tpa of ethane from the US to feed its cracking units in India. “Reliance, with this strategic tie-up with MOL, has achieved a key milestone for the successful implementation of its ethane import project to feed crackers in India,” RIL said in a press statement. The ships are expected to be delivered starting Q4-2016, in synchronisation with the readiness of the terminal in North America. The proposed capital expenditure ofUS$1.5 bln (Rs 9,000 crore) for this includes US$723 mln (Rs 4,338 crore) for building six of the world’s largest ethane carriers through Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korea. Imports will commence from second half of calendar year 2016. Reliance is also building a world-scale receiving and storage facility in India for liquefied ethane and a pipeline to deliver ethane to its crackers. It will also be upgrading its crackers to maximise cracking of ethane.
RIL has two joint ventures in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale - one with Chevron, in which it has invested US$1.7 bln, and another with Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas, in which it has invested US$392 mln. It has a third JV, in which it invested US$1.5 bln in Texas' Eagle Ford Shale with Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources.
26-Dec-14 
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