Reliance Industries Limited set to invest in UAE petchem hub

New Delhi: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has signed a pact to invest an undisclosed amount in a giant petrochemical hub being built in the UAE. The oil-to-telecom conglomerate will join the recently formed Ta'ziz joint venture of Abu Dhabi State energy giant Adnoc and State holding company ADQ for developing the Ruwais Derivatives Park in western Abu Dhabi. A company statement said an agreement has been signed for Reliance to invest in the project but did not give details.

Unconfirmed reports put the investment at about $1.5 billion. Ta'ziz is in discussions with potential partners at the park, which is slated to start operations in 2025. It is hoping to attract around $5 billion into Ruwais. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc), which pumps most of the UAE's 3 million barrels per day of crude oil, plans to spend $45 billion with partners to develop its downstream operations in Ruwais. These projects include adding refining and petrochemical capacity.

The oil refinery planned at Ruwais is being designed to be integrated with the petrochemical project. "Adnoc today announced that Reliance has signed an agreement to join a new world-scale Chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production facility at Ta'ziz in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi," the statement said. The agreement, it said, capitalises on the growing demand for these critical industrial raw materials and leverages the strengths of the two firms as global industrial and energy leaders.

Reliance operates the world's largest refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat. It also has petrochemical plants. Besides producing oil, Adnoc too has similar operations. Under the terms of the agreement, Ta'ziz and Reliance will construct an integrated plant with a capacity to produce 9,40,000 tonnes of Chlor-alkali, 1.1 million tonnes of ethylene dichloride and 3,60,000 tonnes of PVC annually. While Chlor-alkali is used in water treatment and in the manufacturing of textiles and metals, ethylene dichloride (EDC) is used for producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC is commonly used in pipes, fittings, profiles, tubes, windows, doors, sidings, wire, cable, film, sheet, and flooring.