Reliance Industries will start selling petrol and diesel from its export-oriented unit in Jamnagar, Gujarat, locally after the refiner ended its EOU status this week. This will allow the company to sell petrol and diesel locally, including through its 1,432 now-closed petrol pumps.

The EOU status of the 33-million tonne refinery has ended this week even as shareholders and creditors approved the merger of Reliance Petroleum with parent Reliance Industries last week.

Reliance Petroleum had sought to end the EOU status of the refinery, now known as J-1, before the end of the three-year period for which it had sought export unit status.

J-1 was converted into an EOU with effect from 16 April 2007 for three years to tap the clean fuel markets in Europe and the US.

The EOU status, which was valid for three years to 2010, also enabled the company to avoid sale into the domestic market, which had become loss-making for the private refiner as it could not compete with subsidised rates of state-run firms.

Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, was formed for setting up a greenfield petroleum refinery and polypropylene plant in a special economic zone at Jamnagar in Gujarat and has commenced refining of crude. With an annual crude processing capacity of 580,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD), RPL will be the sixth largest refinery in the world.

Shareholders and creditors of Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL), meanwhile, approved the scheme of amalgamation of RPL with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) at a court-convened meeting of equity shareholders, secured creditors and unsecured creditors of RPL on 9 April 2009.

Around 99.745 per cent of the shareholders present in person/proxies, representing 99.9999 per cent of the total value of the equity shares held by them, voted in favour of the amalgamation of the two companies.

Shareholders representing 0.0001 per cent of the total value of shares voted against the Scheme. 100 per cent of the secured and unsecured creditors present in person/proxies voted in favour of the scheme of amalgamation.