Indian refining and petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries Ltd. has commissioned the first phase of a 2.2 million mt/year paraxylene plant at Jamnagar, the company said in a statement late Wednesday.
The new plant will more than double RIL's PX production capacity to 4.2 million mt/year, making RIL the world's second-largest PX producer with 9% of global PX capacity and 11% share of global production, the statement said.
"Commissioning of the new PX plant marks [the] beginning of the culmination of a series of projects including the refinery off-gas cracker, ethane import project, and pet coke gasification," said Mukesh D. Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL.
These projects were part of the largest contemporary investment, in excess of Rupee 1 trillion ($14.7 billion), in refining and petrochemicals sector anywhere in the world, he added.
The new PX capacity will complete the integration within RIL's polyester value chain and lead to an improvement in margins, as well as add value to output from RIL's refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat state, according to the statement.
