Coal news and updates

RIL in talks with global refiners on sourcing pet coke

September 4: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has initiated discussions with major global refineries, including those in the US and Middle East, to procure 10-12 million tons (mt) of pet coke annually in the coming years.

“The company will need 10-12 million tons (mt) of pet coke once all its gasifiers are up and running and as it plans to retain its existing share in the Indian pet coke market, it will need an additional 6 mt of pet coke. Thus, it will require a total of 18 mt of pet coke, but the company’s own production will continue to be about 6 mt annually while the shortage will be met through imports,” an industry source said.

Incidentally, RIL, with a production capacity of 6 mtpa of pet coke, is currently the largest supplier of the material to domestic cement-makers. The latter use this fuel for not only manufacturing cement but also in firing their captive power plants in certain instances.

“RIL has already initiated discussions with some of the leading overseas refiners for a tie-up to source the required quantity of pet coke. In fact, it recently brought two cargo of imported pet coke from the US on a trial basis for supplying to cement manufacturers,” the source said.

“While one cargo, which landed at Gangavaram Port, was supplied to J K Lakshmi Cement, the end-user of another cargo, which was unloaded at Kandla Port, was not immediately known,” the source added.

A source in the company told ICMW that RIL expects to commission its first gasifier towards the end of 2015 and thereafter it has plans to commission two gasifiers in each of the next quarters.

“Each gasifier will need 0.8-1.0 mt of pet coke annually,” the source added.