Reliance on schedule with construction of new refinery
Reliance is proceeding to schedule with construction of its new export-oriented 29m t/y grassroots refinery adjacent toits existing 33m t/y refinery in the Moti Khavdi area of Jamnagar district in Gujarat.
According to a detailed manufacturing schedule seen by this report, Reliance expects the crude distillation unit (CDU 3), which is the refinery’s main unit, to be ready and in place by the end of May. Reliance wants to start work on Phase-I by March 20 and complete it within 108 days, or by July 5.
If Reliance manages to strictly adhere to its schedule, and traditionally it sticks to most of its deadlines, the marine tank farms and the jetty, where work has already begun, should be fully operational by July 14. Two single point moorings (SPM-3 and SPM-4) would be ready by the end of April this year.
Other units in Phase-I include the aromatics unit, which is expected to be ready a month later by the end of May and the Diesel Hydro Desulphurisation (DHDS 1), expected to be operational by the first week of June. Following this, Reliance expects the Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrotreater (VGO-HT) to be ready by the second week of June, while the Coker 3 blocks are expected to be ready by the first week of July.
“Once Phase-I is commissioned,†reports a source familiar with the refinery, “one can say that the refinery has started.†Work on providing electricity supplies began last December and the deployment of all electricity supply utilities should be in place by the first week of May.
Crucially, Reliance is determined to have all â€کsupport units’ ready by July 14, according to its schedule. These include two Hydrogen Manufacturing Units (HMU-4, HMU-5); the ATU; Sour Water Stripper (SWS); CBA unit I; Sulphur Granulation Unit, Saturated LPG Merox; Unsaturated LPG Merox; FG System; crude tanks; product tanks; intermediate tanks; FLO tanks; H2 Compressor U 395; as well as the marine tanks farms and jetty.
Reliance has announced it wants to begin refining crude oil in this refinery by the middle of this year.