Jamnagar Industries – visited by Parliamentary standing committee

Jamnagar District Refinery Industries like Reliance, and EssarVadinar Oil Terminal of IOC visited by 20 member standing committee of the Parliament.

On 18th July, the committee headed by Subbarami Reddy, comprised senior officials of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Central Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Ecology Commission and Parliament secretariat visited these refineries.

It was to obtain the first-hand view of how the mega operations take place in the coastal area and how companies dealing with hydro-carbons and petrochemicals observe and maintain the standards of safety and environment protection.

Chairman of the committee stated in a release.

Discussion on measures to check the pollution, energy efficiency meeting took place during the meeting.

The committee emphasized and advised to all Jamnagar industries, dealing with hydrocarbons and petrochemicals, to maintain high standards and norms of safety and environment while conducting the world class operations.

Parimal Nathwani, Group President (Corporate Affairs) of Reliance Industry and P K Kapil, Director of RIL, held talks with the committee.

Reliance Industries Jamnagar News – Production of Butlyl Rubber

Energy major Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) today said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian petrochemical company Sibur to set up a joint venture (JV) to produce butyl rubber at Jamnagar City Gujarat India.

A press release from RIL said Sibur would provide proprietary technology for butyl rubber polymerization and its finishing, while Reliance, which has an integrated petrochemical site at Jamnagar, will supply monomers and provide the JV with world class infrastructure and utilities.

“Reliance is committed to serving the Indian rubber industry. This industry is growing rapidly on the back of automobile demand in India and the sub-continent.This step reinforces RIL’s commitment to the synthetic rubber industry in India," a spokesperson for RIL said. "

It is also a significant milestone in taking forward the vision of our Reliance Industries Chairman Mr. Mukesh Ambani, for the elastomeric industry," he said.

“The creation of new capacity in close proximity to the Asian markets provides both Sibur and Reliance with exciting opportunities. Rubber consumption in Asia has shown strong growth in recent years, triggered by increased volumes of tyre production,” Sibur President Dmitry Konov said.

Sibur operates across the entire petrochemical value chain from gas processing to the production of monomers and plastics, synthetic rubbers, mineral fertilizers, types and industrial rubber goods, as well as the processing of plastics. It produces over 2000 different types of products. Gazprombank Group is the principal shareholder of Sibur Holding JSC and owns more than 95 % of the company.

Jamnagar Gujarat Coastal Area Protection - Rs 300 Crore sanctioned by World Bank

The World Bank has sanctioned 300 crore rupees for Gujarat for the protection of coastal environment along the Gulf of Kutch.

An MOU for this ambitious project was signed by the Gujarat Ecology Commission and the World Bank in New Delhi today.

Disclosing this to our Bhuj Correspondent, the Member-Secretary of Gujarat Ecology Commission, Mr. E. Balaguruswamy said that several new schemes will be launched along the coastal towns and villages of the Gulf of Kutch under this project.

He said that in addition to an Affluent Treatment Plant at Jamnagar City, two Multi-interpretation Centers will be set up at Dwarka and Mandvi in Kutch.

Reliance Industries Jamnagar Refinery News Gujarat India

India's top refiner Reliance Industries plans to shut down a 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) vacuum gas oil (VGO) hydrotreater at its old refinery for about a month later this week, an industry source said on Monday.

"VGO hydrotreater will be shut for 20-30 days to change the catalyst. The shutdown will begin from Wednesday or Thursday," the source told reporters.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries operates the world's biggest refining complex, at Jamnagar City in Western Gujarat State, which has a total processing capacity of 1.24 million bpd of crude.

Reliance's old 660,000 bpd refinery at Jamnagar has two VGO units each with 100,000 bpd capacity. The source said there would be no impact on throughput due to the shutdown.

A VGO hydrotreater removes sulphur from heavy feedstock to produce naphtha, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas.

Reliance Industries Jamnagar City News Gujarat India

The Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries has made an investment of Rs 32,017 crore in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ Gujarat) at Jamnagar City for which the state government had allotted over 1,333 hectares at Rs 311.74 crore, the government said today.

The government gave the details in reply to a question by Congress MLA Faroq Sheikh regarding the land given to RIL, the Tatas and the Adani Group for setting up projects in the state.

Details were provided about the land allotted to these groups, the rates charged by the government and the investment made. In Jamnagar, the government has given over 12 hectares at Rs 13.47 lakh for a refinery, 1,333 hectares at Rs 311.74 crore for an SEZ, and 57 hectares at Rs 25 crore for setting up a marine tank farm.

The Tata Group has been given over 1,031 hectares in Gandhinagar City at Rs 11.35 crore for an IT project where an investment of Rs 11,434 crore would be made, generating over 8,000 jobs once the project becomes operational.

For the Nano Car project, the state has given 445.17 hectares at Sanand district where the Tata Group is investing Rs 2,322 crore. The project will create about 4,000 jobs.

In Kutch, the government has given 1,964 hectares to the Adani Group for setting up an Mundra SEZ Gujarat for Rs 29.67 crore.

Jamnagar Brass Industries - Gujarat Industrial News India

The Union environment ministry’s notification requiring importers of brass scrap to register has not gone down well with brass traders and manufacturers.

Determined to regain its sheen, the Jamnagar brass parts industry is seeking policy changes from the government.

There are 5,000 brass making units in Jamnagar City, more than 80 per cent of them in the small-scale category. Their total annual turnover is about Rs 2,000 crore and they employ more than 2.5 lakh persons.

India consumes about 100,000-150,000 tonnes of brass annually, of which about 70 per cent is imported.

“Brass is a very big industry in this region, but much development is (still) required. If the government supports us at the policy level, new development can take place. As of now, most of our energy is wasted in dealing with government officials on several policy issues. Both state and Central government should ease policies so that we can concentrate on our business,” said Jineshbhai Shah of Rajhans Impex.

Recently, the Union environment ministry issued a notification requiring traders and manufacturers to register for the import of brass scrap. Industry sources said that since the brass industry is a small-scale one, such registration seems unnecessary.

“Brass scrap is not harmful to the environment, so why should we register? The government says the move will help stop duty-stealing. But the pollution control board and environment department have no concern with this. We are going to meet Jairam Ramesh, minister of environment and forests, to sort out this issue,” said Ramjibhai Patel, president of Jamnagar Factory Owners Association.

Patel said the brass industry had just come out of recession and only government support can help it survive.

Similarly, Bharatbhai Dodhiya, a partner in Nyals Brass Products, said, “Government should give us relief in import duty on brass scrap, as the international market is fluctuating. Due to price instability, manufacturers have incurred losses several times. We take orders at a certain price and in no time the international prices change. This often leads to clients cancelling their orders.”

Jamnagar imports 95 per cent of scrap from Europe and America. A sharp increase in the value of the US dollar has also made Indian imports more expensive. Prior commitments mean that Indian importers have to pay much higher for their contracts, even though global prices have taken a big hit in recent days.

Adding that certain measures in banking policy could also help the industry, Dodhiya said, “Banking policy also should be changed for small-scale units in the industry here. Many units are upgrading their technology and if banks provide us loans at lower interest rates, the industry can grow a lot.”

Mukesh Ambani CMD of Reliance Refinery Industries Jamnagar News Gujarat India

India’s Mukesh Ambani awarded Penn Engineering Dean’s Medal.

Mukesh Ambani, the CMD of Reliance Industries Ltd., received the Penn Engineering Dean’s Medal here in Mumbai, India, on Friday, 8th January 2010. In a ceremony at the Trident Hotel he was honoured with the Dean’s Medal by Eduardo Glandt, Dean of Penn Engineering. The University of Pennsylvania has conferred this award on Mukesh Ambani for his visionary leadership in the application of engineering and technology for the betterment of society and mankind. The award is a testimony to this global visionary; who runs India’s biggest corporate house, Reliance Industries Ltd.

The keynote address for the event was made by Dean Glandt who introduced Mukesh Ambani warmly, in a well attended gathering in the Regal Room of the Trident Hotel. Amidst the attendees were industrialists, celebrities and the Indian media including Kumaramangalam Birla, Anand Mahindra and Sachin Tendulkar. In his speech Mr. Ambani announced the newest project of the Reliance Foundation – a university in India, to be headed by Mrs. Nita Ambani. He also expressed with much passion the requirement for a global paradigm shift to include a focus on real engineering instead of financial engineering in light of the recent economic crisis.

Mr. Mukesh Ambani has come a long way having started his corporate journey in 1981 when he joined his father, late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, the founding chairman of Reliance. He initiated Reliance’s vertical integration journey from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals, petroleum refining and eventually oil and gas exploration and production. He then led the creation of 51 new, world-class manufacturing facilities encompassing diverse technologies that increased Reliance’s manufacturing capacities manifold.

The Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat which is now the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery was the brainchild of Mukesh Ambani. Dhirubhai’s dream project Reliance Infocomm, which is now one of the largest telecommunications companies in India and has emerged as Reliance Communications Limited was also set up by Mukesh Ambani. He is currently steering Reliance’s development of a pan-India retail network, a transformational initiative connecting, rural and urban India.

In a recent study by the Harvard Business Review, Mukesh Ambani has been recognized as the fifth best CEO of the world in a review, which surveyed a total of 1,999 CEOs of large public traded companies across the globe. In the course of his career he has been conferred as many as 5 awards by NDTV, a leading news channel in India. He has also featured in the survey of ‘Top 50 Most Respected Business Leaders of the World’ conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2002 as well as 2004. At the global level Mukesh Ambani has been felicitated twice by the United States India Business Council. He is also the only Indian CEO to be invited thus far to become a Council Member of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in July 2007.

Reliance Industries Refinery Jamnagar News Saurashtra Gujarat India

Star cricketers to play friendly match at Reliance Industries Refinery, Jamnagar City.

Star cricketers of the Indian cricket team, including Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag and others will play a day-and-night friendly match at the Reliance Refinery in Moti Khavdi in Jamnagar tomorrow.

The limited overs friendly day-and-night match is to be played between the Indian cricket team and Reliance team, sources from the refinery said here today.

Sources said that the match is nothing more than a family function.

Cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Virendar Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Sudip Tyagi and players of Mumbai Indians, owned by Reliance for Indian Premier League are likely to play the match, they said.

The players will arrive in batches in a chartered aircraft, sources said, adding Mukesh Ambani and his family will be arriving later in the day.

Jamnagar Rajkot Kutch District Industries News Samachar Gujarat India

50% of Gujarat power will come from green technologies.

In an exclusive interview with DNA, Gujarat power and industries minister Saurabh Patel discussed the state's future plans for energy.

What do the ongoing Climate Change summit in Copenhagen, world energy conservation day celebrations, and Gujarat have in common?

They are all concerned about the future requirements of energy and the impact of power generation on global warming. Even as there is a debate underway on India's commitment to reduction in carbon emissions, the Modi government already has several ambitious plans for energy generation.

The future is gas-based power generation. In the next few years, Gujarat aims to switch to clean mechanisms -- such as solar, hydro, wind and tidal power -- for as much as 50 per cent of its total power generation. A tidal power project will be launched either in the Gulf of Kutch or Khambhat.

This will be achieved at a huge initial cost. But the extra cash will be well spent as it will lead to savings on recurring expenses. It will ensure that state's carbon emission does not shoot up in the next decade because of its power generation projects.

What are your thoughts on Climate Change and how high is it on Gujarat government's agenda?

Climate Change is an issue that is being debated world over and needs to be tackled seriously. Gujarat has already started doing its bit by promoting clean energy. In fact, Gujarat is the first state in the country to set up a separate Climate Change department. The state government has been encouraging the use of clean fuels to generate energy. Unfortunately, the amounts of such clean fuel (such as gas) needed in Gujarat is very high but we do not have adequate supplies.

How is the state government promoting green energy?

We are promoting power generation through renewable sources such as wind and solar power. We are also focusing on nuclear power generation. The state government is working on a biomass policy for electricity generation, the draft of which is being readied and will be soon placed in the assembly.

How are things shaping up as far as wind power generation is concerned?

As far as wind energy is concerned, Gujarat, with an installed power generation capacity of over 1,500 MW, is second only to Tamil Nadu. We are promoting this sector in a big way and aim to expand capacity by a further 500 MW this year. We are utilizing state PSUs such as GACL, GNFC, GSFC, GMDC and GSPC to generate wind power.

The cost of tapping solar power for energy is very high. How does the government plan to overcome this problem?

The Gujarat government is taking the lead in promoting solar energy generation. We realize that as solar energy is costlier than power from other sources, it will never pick up if it is not taken seriously. We have, therefore, decided to offer Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited Rs 1, 000 crore as subsidy for solar power generation for the next 10 years.

It is a huge sum, but it will ensure that solar energy is properly tapped. Moreover, once new technologies are produced, the cost of power will come down and the subsidy burden will ease. The government is even planning to promote hybrid power generation through plants that run on sunlight during daytime and gas at night.

What is the status of the work on expanding the gas grid in the state?

Gujarat was the first state to encourage use of gas as fuel and continues to do so. We already have gas grid in 15 districts and plan to cover the remaining areas soon. We also want to include the smaller towns in North Gujarat and Saurashtra. The grid will be expanded to Pipavav, Jamnagar, and Rajkot, Mundra, Mehsana, Vapi and other places.
Around 150 CNG stations will be set up across the state in the next 15 months.

These include mother stations which will be directly connected to the main pipeline, and daughter stations which will be supplied gas by tankers. We are even asking all government vehicles to switch to CNG.

What is the status of the work on expanding the gas grid in the state?

Gujarat was the first state to encourage use of gas as fuel and continues to do so. We already have gas grid in 15 districts and plan to cover the remaining areas soon. We also want to include the smaller towns in North Gujarat and Saurashtra. The grid will be expanded to Pipavav, Jamnagar, and Rajkot, Mundra, Mehsana, Vapi and other places.

Reliance Industries Jamnagar News Samachar Gujarat India

Reliance Industries to Give Bonus Share.

Reliance Industries Ltd., India's biggest company by market value, said Wednesday it will give its shareholders one bonus share for each share held.

The company will also pay a dividend of 13 rupees ($0.27) a share for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance said also it posted a consolidated net profit of 152.96 billion rupees for the year ended March 31, 2009, compared with 153.24 billion rupees a year earlier.

Consolidated net sales for the past fiscal year stood at 1.51 trillion rupees, compared with 1.37 trillion rupees a year earlier.

Profit and sales figures for the past fiscal year includes numbers of unit Reliance Petroleum Ltd., which was merged with Reliance Industries effective April 1, 2008, it said.

Reliance earned 1.10 trillion rupees from its refinery operations in the year ended March 31. The company runs two refineries with a nameplate capacity of 1.24 million barrels a day at Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Reliance Industries Jamnagar City News Gujarat India

Reliance to start engineering colleges in Jamnagar City,Vadodara City,Dwarka.

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani - led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) will start world-class engineering colleges in Gujarat’s Jamnagar and Vadodara.

RIL has major presence at both the places. RIL will also start a polytechnic college of diploma engineering in Dwarka in Gujarat.

Parimal Nathwani, group President of RIL in Gujarat announced this at an inaugural function of Khodiar colony branch of Navanagar cooperative bank in Jamnagar early this week.

It should be mentioned here that RIL chief Mukesh Ambani had publicly announced his plan to establish a world class university in Gujarat during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit at Ahmedabad in year 2007.

But till date, nothing has been materialized on ground in this direction in the state.

Reliance SEZ Jamnagar News Gujarat India

Jamnagar SEZ exports to cross Rs 50,000 crore.

Coming out of the shadows after facing a slump in the global petrochemicals market, Reliance Industries’ (RIL) special economic zone (SEZ) in Jamnagar is likely to emerge as one of the largest SEZs in the country.

“Reliance SEZ is expected to export goods worth at least Rs 50,000 crore by March 2010.

This will be the largest in terms of exports compared with any other SEZ in the country,” Reliance Jamnagar SEZ Development Commissioner Upendra Vasishth Business Standard. In 2008-09, exports from all SEZs in India had been pegged at Rs 99,500 crore, of which exports from SEZs in Gujarat stood at Rs 26,000 crore.

This financial year, exports from all the SEZs are poised to touch Rs 1,70,000 crore, according to Vasishth. The Rs 25,000-crore Jamnagar Export Refinery Project (JERP) located in the SEZ became functional on December 25, 2008. But it became fully operational only in July this year.

Exports from the refinery have already touched Rs 18,000 crore till August 31. JERP has added nearly 20 per cent to the country’s refinery capacity and has made RIL the largest crude oil refining company in India. The refining capacity of JERP is 29 million tons per annum and its exports are primarily aimed at the US and European markets.

The refinery produces about 31 kilo tones a day (ktpd) of diesel, 25 ktpd of petrol, along with sulphur, pet coke, fuel oil and naphtha. The polypropylene plant in the SEZ also has a capacity of about a million tones per annum and the plant is working full throttle to cater to heavy export orders, according to company sources. Reliance is also in the process of setting up a C2/C3 cracker unit in JERP to produce downstream products like methyl ethyl glycol (MEG), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and low-low density polyethylene (LLDP), sources said.

The global economic slowdown had hit RIL’s petrochemical business last year, forcing the company to cut 50 per cent of the production at its polypropylene plant located outside the SEZ in an export-oriented unit (EOU) facility.

Jamnagar District News Samachar Gujarat India

Gujarat to hire 600 marine commandos for coastal security.

To strengthen its security apparatus along the 1600-km long coastline in the state, Gujarat government has decided to create a marine commando unit and recruit 600 personnel for it.

A senior official in the state Home Department said that the marine commando unit will be created and it’s headquarter will be located in Jamnagar district in Saurashtra region.

"We have finalized the details of the project and also framed the criteria for recruitment of the commandos," he said.

According to him, recruitment of commandos will begin very soon and retired officials of Navy and Coastguards will be engaged to train them.

The state Home Department has also sent a proposal to the Central government for setting up 12 coastal police stations in the state.

Reliance Refinery Industries Ltd (RIL) Jamnagar News Gujarat India

RIL appoints two talented professionals as Executive Directors.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), major player in the Indian petrochemicals sector, on Friday announced that it has appointed two new Executive Directors.

The Company appointed its senior executive Mr. PMS Prasad, who directs its upstream and refining business, and Mr. R Ravimohan, former Chairman and MD of Crisil, the premier credit ratings organization, as executive directors on its board with immediate effect.

These appointments bring the RIL board's strength to 14 members with 7 members being independent directors.

Mr. Prasad, a leading energy industry professional, has been working with RIL for more than 28 years. The project of Jamnagar refinery and petrochemical complex was headed by him.

Mr. R Ravimohan has been intimately involved with the development of Indian financial system and has pioneered the era of electronic stock markets in India.

Mr. Mukesh Ambani, RIL Chairman and MD, stated that Mr. Ravimohan is one of the best financial and risk management minds of the world, whereas Mr. Prasad has played an integral role for the growth of RIL and for its achievements. He looks ahead to the contributions of these 2 talented professionals to bring the company forward on a sped up growing track.

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL), on Friday, closed at Rs 1,928.65, up 1.61% or Rs 30.65. The total quantity of shares traded was 772,522 on the BSE.