India's Reliance sets up UAE trading unit as it invests $2 bil in petchems project

Reliance Industries set up a $1 million oil and petrochemicals trading unit in the UAE as it invests $2 billion in a petrochemicals project being developed by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

Reliance International Ltd., or RINL, will be located in the Abu Dhabi Global Market financial free zone in the UAE capital, and has yet to start operations, Reliance said in a statement to India's BSE stock exchange on Oct. 2.

"RINL is incorporated to undertake activities relating to, amongst others, trading of crude oil, petroleum products, petrochemicals and agricultural commodities," it said.

Reliance Industries plans to invest $2 billion in the UAE's TA'ZIZ chemical joint venture between ADNOC and sovereign wealth fund ADQ, becoming the Indian company's first deal in the Gulf region, according to a June 29 statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Reliance and TA'ZIZ will build plants with capacity to produce 940,000 mt/year of chlor-alkali, 1.1 million mt/year of ethylene dichloride and 360,000 mt/year of polyvinyl chloride at the TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone, ADNOC said in the June 29 statement. Final investment decisions for the projects and awards of related EPC contracts are being targeted for 2022, ADNOC said at the time.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, said in a separate statement on June 29 the agreement will help "globalize" the company's operations.

Chlor-alkali is used in water treatment and in the manufacture of textiles and metals, while ethylene dichloride is typically used to produce PVC, which has a wide range of applications across housing, infrastructure and consumer goods.

Reliance is actively pursuing plans in fossil fuels. Saudi Aramco has moved closer in purchasing a stake in the oil-to-chemicals unit of Reliance, following the recent appointment of its chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as an independent director to the board of Reliance Industries.