Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) proposes to enhance the scope of its foreign technology agreement with ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Company (EMRE) of the US for its 30-million tonne per annum refinery at the Jamnagar SEZ, which is expected to be commissioned later this year.
Seeking the government?s approval, RPL has submitted an application to the commerce ministry for an amendment to its existing foreign collaboration with EMRE to include the transfer of technology to RPL for EMRE?s diesel hydro desulphurisation technology.
This technology transfer will help RPL in the manufacture of ultra-low sulphur diesel, conforming to Euro-IV plus standards, at its Jamnagar SEZ refinery. The environmentally cleaner Euro-IV plus fuels have a huge export potential.
Giving details, RPL said that EMRE would provide a non-exclusive licence to use its ultra-low sulphur diesel technology, which will enable the company to source equipment, construct, operate and maintain a diesel hydro desulphurisation unit at the upcoming refinery.
?The new technology will help us in maximising the crude flexibility in the SEZ refinery, upgrade diesel quality to ultra-low sulphur diesel, enable us to increase export quantity of Euro-IV plus grade diesel, enhance our export revenues by $44 million, besides saving $46 million in capex for diesel quality upgrade to ultra-low sulphur diesel,? RPL said in its application to the commerce ministry. RPL has two separate agreements with EMRE for diesel hydro desulphurisation technology: one for the DHDS 1 unit under the automatic route and the other for the DHDS 2/PTU with secretariat of industry approvals nod. Both the units will come up at RPL?s SEZ refinery.
The latest application is to enhance the scope of the agreement already entered into with EMRE for the transfer pf know-how for the DHDS 2/PTU unit, for the commercial manufacture of ultra-low sulphur diesel.
While RPL is a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani?s flagship company, Reliance Industries Ltd, EMRE is the research and engineering arm of ExxonMobil Corporation, a leading global oil, natural gas and petrochemicals company with operations in over 200 countries. EMRE has been very active in licensing clean fuel technologies to produce transportation fuels that meet increasingly stringent product specifications.
