Reliance to invest S$13 billion in petrochemicals, textiles

Reliance Industries (RIL) is planning to invest ₹75,000 crore (S$13.15 billion) in its petrochemicals and textile business over the next five years, said chairman Mukesh Ambani. This, for the company, will be part of its bid to expand capacities in existing and new value chains.

Speaking at the company’s AGM, Ambani said, “In the Polyester value chain, we will build one of the world’s largest single-train Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) plant of 3 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) capacity at Dahej. We will also invest in a 1 MMTPAPET plant at Dahej. Both PTA and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) will be targeted for completion by 2026. We will also reinvest in Polyester Filament Yarn (PFY) and Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF). Polyester expansion with capacity of over 1 MMTPA will be completed in phases by 2026.”

In the Vinyl chain, the company aims to more than triple its existing capacity by adding world-scale plants at Dahej and Jamnagar in India, and also in the UAE. “We will aim to complete 1.5 MMTPA of feedstock integrated PVC expansion at Dahej and Jamnagar in phases by 2026. We will also add capacities to make EDC and PVC at Ruwais, in the UAE, as part of Ta’ziz Chemical Zone,” said Ambani.

In line with the company’s vision for new materials, Reliance plans to build in phases India’s first Carbon Fibre plant at Hazira, which will be one of the world’s largest with a capacity of 20,000 MTPA, based on Acrylonitrile (ACN) feedstock.

ACN is a petrochemical product used in the production of a wide range of chemical products (mainly ABS/SAN resins, acrylic fibres, acrylamide, nitrile rubber, adiponitrile, and carbon fibres).

“Reliance has championed the cause of sustainability through circular economy and is India’s leader in recycling of polyesters and plastics. We will more than double our bottle recycling capacity to five billion bottles a year,” said Ambani.

He added that scientists have also developed pathways to produce biodegradable and compostable plastics to completely replace single-use plastics.

The Reliance Group Chairman also unveiled his company’s aim to turn net carbon zero by 2035 as part of its commitment to support climate change by focusing on new affordable climate friendly energy and materials. He said that the renewable energy consumption at Reliance jumped by 352% within one year.

In the annual report for FY22, which was released earlier this month, Mukesh Ambani told shareholders about RIL’s green transformation plan to become one of the world’s leaders in the fight against the crisis of climate change. In FY22, RIL set up the Reliance New Energy Council (NEC) to identify opportunities and engage in partnerships worldwide.