India’s Reliance Industries is reportedly planning to boost the capacity of the world’s largest petroleum refinery by 50%

• Reliance Industries is said to be mulling a plan to increase the capacity of his Jamnagar petroleum refinery by around 50%.
  
• The proposed expansion to the facility, which is the world’s largest refining complex, is expected to cost around $10 billion and will boost the facility’s annual refining capacity to 30 million tonnes of crude oil.
  
• The move is a direct play at cementing Reliance’s dominance in a market that is positioned to be the world’s fastest growing consumer of fuel within the next two decades.
  

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd - India’s most valuable company by market cap, is said to be mulling a plan to increase the capacity of his Jamnagar petroleum refinery by around 50%, anonymous sources told Bloomberg.

The proposed expansion to the facility, which is the world’s largest refining complex, is expected to cost around $10 billion and will boost the facility’s annual refining capacity to 30 million tonnes of crude oil. It will involve the addition of a new refining train and is part of a plan to increase Reliance’s supply of raw crude for industrial processes as well as diesel for commercial vehicles.

The move is a direct play at cementing Reliance’s dominance in a market that is positioned to be the world’s fastest growing consumer of fuel within the next two decades, despite the government’s desire to embrace the electrification of vehicles. Having traditionally focused on exports of petrochemicals to markets across Asia, Europe and Africa, the Mukesh Ambani-owned conglomerate is preparing to tap into domestic demand.

A number of global oil companies, including the likes of Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell and Rosneft are looking to make inroads into India’s downstream energy sector.

Last month, Khalid A Al-Falih, the chairman of Saudi Aramco, said that the world’s largest oil producing company was assessing a range of investment opportunities in India’s downstream sector. In July, Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), decided to join hands on a $44 billion refinery project in Ratnagiri, in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

In addition to expanding its refining capacity, Reliance is also taking big steps in the fuel retailing sector. It was reported last month that the company was tying up with British Petroleum to launch 2,000 fuel retail outlets across India by 2022.

The current expansion plan is still in early stages and is expected to be finalised keeping a start date of 2020 in mind. In September 2017, Reliance was reported to be deliberating on a plan to increase the refining capacity of its Jamnagar plant by as much as 40% by 2030.

The move was envisioned to follow the completion of a $16 billion expansion initiative that started in 2014. However, the plan was temporarily put on hold while the conglomerate doubled down on its telecom investments.

SEE ALSO:

India's Reliance is teaming up with BP in a move that could send the country's state-owned fuel giants into a tailspin

Reliance Industries just beat Tata Consultancy Services to become India’s highest-valued company

Saudi Arabia has big plans for India's energy sector