Planning to replace natural gas and naphtha at its petrochemical plants, Mumbai-based Reliance Industries Limited will procure 1.6 million tons of ethane from three companies in the U.S.
Reliance Industries has three joint ventures in America: one with California headquartered Chevron Corp, in which it has invested $1.7 billion; the second with Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc, in which it has invested $392 million; and a third with Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co., in which it has invested $1.5 billion.
Ethane is expected to be produced in large volumes in North America due to the shale gas revolution, which has generated an abundance of liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas, reports the Times of India. Amit Mehta, head of Reliance’s gas business, said that the company has contracted ethane supplies for more than 20 years from America.
Reliance Industries will get its requirement from Marcellus Shale a Middle Devonian age unit of marine sedimentary rock in the Appalachian Basin of eastern North America, and from Texas’ Eagle Ford Group a sedimentary rock formation deposited during the Cenomanian and Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous period.
