The refinery is scheduled to be commissioned around September next year to its full capacity of 18 million tonnes a year. Reliance Petroleum is working on strategies to maximise production at its Jamnagar project in order to reap advantages of oil sector delicensing.

Ambani said that import substitution by Reliance Petroleum's products will save foreign exchange of over Rs 6,000 crore each year. The company will also contribute over Rs 6,000 crore annually to the exchequer by way of various taxes, he added. The capacity of the proposed 500mw power plant in Jamnagar is likely to be increased to 2,500mw to serve the growing power needs of Gujarat, Ambani told shareholders.

He assured shareholders that there would not be any delay in thecommissioning of the project owing to the cyclone that had hit the site on June 9 last. "There is no monetary loss as the project is fully insured," he added. As to the Rs 40,000-crore Reliance Telecom (RTL) project, Ambani said, "We are not going to the shareholders to raise public money till the market condition improves." He said that the interest of the small shareholders would be protected when the RPL would go in for demat trading.

Speaking about the likely effect of ``global economy showing clear signs of weakening, beginning with Asia last year and spreading elsewhere,'' he said India has been relatively insulated from the currency fluctuation. He categorically stated that devaluation of the rupee against the dollar would not affect the petroleum sector.

On the global outlook, he said the oil demand increased by 2.3 per cent during 1997, lower than the previous year's 2.8 per cent, but well above the 10-year average of around 1.1 per cent. The sharp increase in non-OPEC crude oil production andfailure of the OPEC countries to stick to their production quota have contributed to a huge oversupply situation during 1998.Crude oil prices have reacted, touching a 10-year low of $12 per barrel. And the trend is expected to continue in future, with crude oil prices remaining soft. Ambani, accompanied by his elder son Mukesh, who had arrived here on Friday afternoon, had a tight schedule, including inauguration of the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Vidya Mandir, water supply scheme from the desalination plant and an underground tunnel for the pipeline. During the AGM, too, Ambani listed the social responsibilities the RPL had undertaken for the Jamnagar region such as planning 21 lakh plants as part of the green belt of around the 7,500 acres.