Reliance shuts VGO unit

This has been done to enable the carrying out of necessary repairs.

Reliance Industries Ltd has shut a 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) vacuum gas oil (VGO) hydrotreater for about a month at the weekend to change the catalyst,but no crucial consequences are expected,a trade source said on Monday.

Reliance Industries,headed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani,operates the world’s biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat,with capacity to process 1.24 million bpd of crude.

The VGO hydrotreater is one of two such units of the same capacity at Reliance’s 660,000 bpd refinery at Jamnagar.

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The shutdown process started on Friday evening and the unit was fully shut on Saturday. It will remain shut for about 25 days,the trade source,who is familiar with Reliance’s refining complex,said.

He said there would be no significant impact on throughput as the refinery had enough feedstock to process at the fluid catalytic cracking unit during the shutdown.

A VGO hydrotreater removes sulphur from heavy feedstock to produce naphtha,jet fuel and LPG.

Reliance did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The source said the duration of the shutdown might change,depending on the nature of the job.