The Ambani group''s petroleum refining company will build a nationwide distribution network for liquefied petroleum gas, according to the company''s chairman Dhirubhai Ambani. The gas will be a by-product of the company''s massive 27 million tonne refinery at Jamnagar on the Saurashtra coast in Gujarat. The company expects to produce 2.1 million tonnes of LPG annually at the refinery.

Mr Ambani told shareholders of the parent Reliance Industries Ltd at its annual general meeting on 24 June 1999 that Reliance Petroleum will start paying dividend in the first full year of operations, that is, the year ending March 2001. The refinery is scheduled to be commissioned in the second quarter of 1999-2000.

On full commissioning, reliance Petroleum, which has soaked up an investment of Rs 14,000 crore, will achieve a turnover of Rs 20,000 crore, at today''s prices.

Reliance Petroleum, has an agreement with the public sector Indian Oil Corporation, India''s No. 1 refining company at present, for the marketing of half of RPL''s refined products. The company is negotiating with two other public sector oil refiners, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and Hindustan Petroelum Corporation, for the marketing of the remaining half of RPL''s output.