US to assist India in building a $6 bln oil refinery

Washington, May 18 (UNI) The United States will help Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) to build a six billion dollar state-of-the-art oil refinery and petrochemical complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

The project will utilise the US equipment, technology and services financed by a 500-million-dollar loan guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), according to a release here yesterday.

The RPL's primary shareholder, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is a Fortune 500 company and the largest private company in India. The new refinery will be the world's sixth largest and will be located adjacent to RIL's existing refinery and petrochemical complex in Jamnagar. Together the two refineries will comprise the largest refining complex in the world.

Expected to be completed in December, 2008, the refinery will be among the most modern and complex in the world, capable of producing high quality fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel diesel, alkylates, naphtha,kerosene, as well as polypropylene, the release said.

The refinery's Nelson Complexity Index is 14, compared to the average index of 10 in the United States. This is a measure of the refinery's technological processing capabilities.

Bechtel Corp, Houston, Tex, is providing design, procurement, project management and other services.

Major US exporters also participating in the project include: Black&Veatch International Co, Kansas City, Mo, for sulfur recovery and gas treatment units; Dow Global Technologies, Inc, Midland, Mich, for licensing and services for the polypropylene plant process; Foster Wheeler Corp, Clinton, N J, for fired heaters for the refinery's coker; and UOP LLC, Des Plaines, Ill, for the catalytic converter reactor section and PSA (Pressure Swing Absorption) packages.

Citibank N A, New York, N Y, is the guaranteed lender on the transaction.

''Ex-Im Bank's long and successful relationship with the RIL group of companies, dating back to the early 1980s, has contributed to growth in the dynamic Indian market while helping to create US jobs,'' said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President James H Lambright.

''We hope to support future RIL projects in other industrial sectors.'' ''This transaction is yet another affirmation from Ex-Im Bank of the growth potential that they see in India and in particular the Reliance Group,'' said Chairman and Managing Director of RIL and Chairman of RPL Mukesh Ambani.

''We look forward to deepening and strengthening our valued relationship with Ex-Im Bank.'' Ex-Im Bank's exposure to India , including the current project, is approximately 3.1 billion dolllars, with 1.17 billion dollars in additional pending final commitments.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent US government agency that assists in financing the export of US goods and services to markets around the world, through export credit insurance, loan guarantees, and direct loans.

In fiscal year 2006, Ex-Im Bank authorised over 12.1 billion dollars in transactions supporting an estimated 16.1 billion dollars in US exports.

UNI