Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector company controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, plans to transfer the gasification units at Jamnagar – the world's largest refinery – into a wholly-owned unit as it transitions to renewables.
The gasification unit at the 1.2 million barrels-per-day refinery in the western Gujarat state was originally intended to produce syngas, or synthetic gas, which is a fuel gas mixture comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide and some carbon dioxide.
The syngas was later used as feedstock to produce olefins, which are used for manufacturing plastics, detergents and adhesives.
Syngas also feeds into the production of hydrogen at the refinery.
"Repurposing the gasification assets will help use syngas as a reliable source of feedstock to produce these chemicals and cater to growing domestic demand, resulting in an attractive business opportunity," the company said.
"Further, as the hydrogen economy expands, RIL will be well positioned to be the first mover to establish a hydrogen ecosystem."
The move follows Reliance's decision to transition away from fossil fuels and tap renewables as its primary source of energy.
The company plans to channel the syngas into producing high-value chemicals and hydrogen, which is increasing in importance amid global efforts to decarbonise power grids.
"Carbon dioxide released during the process of producing hydrogen is highly concentrated and easy to capture, substantially reducing the cost of carbon capture. Overall, these steps will help sharply reduce [the] carbon footprint of Jamnagar complex," the company said.
On Saturday, Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco agreed to re-evaluate a previous non-binding agreement to sell a 20 per cent stake in the Indian company's oil-to-chemicals business.
The re-evaluation follows the company's ongoing shift to renewable energy.
At Reliance's annual general meeting in June, Mr Ambani unveiled an ambitious push into clean energy that earmarks 750 billion Indian rupees ($10.1bn) of investment over three years to help transform the company, which still gets nearly 60 per cent of its revenue from fossil fuel-related businesses.
Reliance has a 15-year strategy to become net-carbon zero by 2035.
Reliance Industries is also developing one of the world’s largest integrated renewable energy manufacturing facilities in Gujarat as part of its pivot to new energy and materials businesses.
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
