Saudi Arabia invests to develop World's largest Oil refinery in Ratnagiri.

RIL's Jamnagar Refinery is currently the world's largest.

An Indian Consortium consisting of IOCL, BPCL and HPCL and Saudi Aramco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here today to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex, Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL) in the State of Maharashtra.  Saudi Aramco may also seek to include a strategic oil partner from other Gulf countries to co-invest in the project.  

The strategic partnership brings together crude supply, resources, technologies, experience and expertise of these multiple oil companies with an established commercial presence around the world. A pre-feasibility study for the refinery has been completed, and the parties are now finalising the project’s overall configuration. Following the signing of the MoU, the parties will extend their collaboration to discuss the formation of a joint venture that would provide for joint ownership, control and management of the project.

The Ratnagiri refinery in Konkan region of Maharashtra will be the World's largest Oil refinery with the capacity of processing 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day (60 million metric tonnes per annum, or MMTPA). Reliance's Jamnagar Refinery, which is currently the world's largest, has a maximum capacity of 34 MMTPA. It will produce a range of refined petroleum products, including petrol and diesel meeting BS-VI fuel efficiency norms. The Refinery will also provide feedstock for the integrated petrochemicals complex, which will be capable of producing approx. 18 million tonnes per annum of petrochemical products.

In addition to the refinery, cracker and downstream petrochemical facilities, the project will include associated facilities such as a logistics, crude oil and product storage terminals, raw water supply, as well as centralized and shared utilities.

Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL) will rank among the largest world refining and petrochemicals projects and will be designed to meet India’s fast-growing fuels and petrochemicals demand. The project cost is estimated at around $44 billion.

This a joint partnership between the consortium from India consisting of IOCL, HPCL and BPCL and Saudi Aramco & an additional strategic partner on a 50:50 basis. This project, with an estimated investment of over Rs. 3 lakh crore, would bring huge benefits to the Region, the State of Maharashtra and the entire country in terms of large-scale employment generation, direct and indirect, as well as the all-round economic development of the Region.  This project is in line with the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and His Highness the King of Saudi Arabia. - Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India.

Investing in India is a key part of our company’s global downstream strategy, and another milestone in our growing relationship with India. The signing marks a significant development in India’s oil and gas sector, enabling a strategic joint venture and investment partnership that will serve India’s fast-growing demand for transportation fuels and chemical products. Participating in this mega project will allow Saudi Aramco to go beyond our crude oil supplier role to a fully integrated position that may help usher in other areas of collaboration, such as refining, marketing, and petrochemicals for India’s future energy demands. - Amin Nasser, CEO, Saudi Aramco.

The refinery will be situated in two villages namely Nanar and Babulwadi. Activists and local political party are protesting the upcoming project over land acquisition issues and alleged 'destruction of the environment'. A fear among locals is created as the mega refinery and petrochemicals complex is just 14km away from World's largest nuclear power plant at Jaitapur. The project is expected to give 40,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Konkan region. These two projects are important to turn around the financial fortunes of the Konkan region. Among this political slugfest, the Union government and Maharashtra government has clarified that it will go-ahead with Ratnagiri mega refinery project.

- Chaitanya Kulkarni

Source - Saudi Aramco, PIB.