Speaking at its annual shareholders meeting on Aug. 29, chairman Mukesh Ambani said: “We are committed to maximize oil-to-chemicals integration and convert our advantageous feedstock streams to high-value chemicals and green materials.”

Reliance intends to build what it said will be one of the world’s largest single-train PTA plants with capacity of 3 million t/y, as well as a 1 million t/y PET plant at its site in Dahej. Both plants are scheduled for completion by 2026. The group will also expand polyester filament yarn and staple fiber capacities, adding more than 1 million t/y in phases by 2026.

With a series of proposed investments in the vinyls chain, the Indian giant expects to rank among the world’s top-five PVC producers. It plans to more than triple existing PVC capacity by building world-scale facilities at Dahej and Jamnagar, with a total combined capacity of 1.5 million t/y starting up in phases by 2026.

The Mumbai-based group is also adding capacity for PVC and its feedstocks chlor-alkali and ethylene dichloride (EDC) in the United Arab Emirates, where it is partnering Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in a project at the Ta’ziz industrial chemicals zone in Ruwais.

The proposed integrated facility will produce 940,000 t/y of chlor-alkali, 1.1 million t/y of EDC and 360,000 t/y of PVC. The companies announced last December that they were launching their venture Ta’ziz EDC & PVC with an investment of more than $2 billion.

Finally, the group will build in stages a 20,000 t/y carbon fiber plant at Hazira. Completion of the first phase of the facility, which Reliance said will be both India’s first and one of the world’s largest, is targeted for 2025. The company added that it expects to start production next year of acrylonitrile – the feedstock for carbon fiber production.

Ambani said Reliance will also further integrate its composites business with carbon fiber to produce carbon fiber composites, which are seeing rapid growth to meet light-weight requirements in the mobility sector and in renewable energy.

In addition, the company aims to strengthen its national leadership position in PET recycling by more than doubling its annual capacity to five billion bottles.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist