Reliance plans 25-ship fleet

Reliance Industries Ltd, the largest and one of the fastest growing private sector companies in India with business activities encompassing oil & gas exploration and production, petroleum refining, petrochemicals and textiles, is planning to acquire a fleet of 25 ships. The fleet will consist of a combination of chemical tankers, crude oil carriers, gas carriers and product tankers at an estimated investment of over $1.1 billion.

Reliance needs to acquire these ships to support the proposed doubling of its petroleum refining capacity at the Jamnagar complex from 30 million tonnes to 60 million tonnes per annum with an investment of $5.5 billion. The new capacity will primarily cater to the export markets and the capacity expansion will be completed by the second half of 2008-09.

A new plant to manufacture polypropylene at Jamnagar is also being set up with a capacity of 280,000 tonnes. The company also plans to set up a purified terephthalic acid plant at Hazira with a capacity of 630,000 tonnes scheduled for completion next year.