Reliance's Jamnagar refinery sheds export status; to cater to domestic needs

16 April 2009

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.