BIG milestone for Mukesh Ambani, Reliance's first-ever refinery at Jamnagar completes...

Twenty-five years ago, on December 28, 1999, Reliance launched its first refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat. The refinery overnight turned India from a fuel deficit nation to a self-sufficient one and later into a surplus, exporting gasoline and gasoil to Europe and the US. Today, Jamnagar has become the world's refining hub - an engineering marvel that is India's pride.

When Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, first spoke of building an oil refinery to process and convert crude oil pumped out of ground and from below seabed, into fuels like petrol (gasoline) and diesel (gasoil), majority of the experts had said that it would be impossible for an Indian company to set up the world's largest grassroots refinery in three years.

But Reliance achieved that in a world-record time of just 33 months, notwithstanding lack of infrastructure and a severe cyclone that had hit Jamnagar then, sources aware of the matter said.

More importantly, the 27 million tonnes a year (560,000 barrels per day) capacity unit was built at nearly 40 per cent lesser cost (per tonne) in comparison to contemporary refineries in Asia. The unit was later expanded to 33 million tonnes.

When Reliance founder chairman Dhirubhai Ambani wanted to pursue his long-cherished dream of setting up a refinery, he was offered land in the barren and desolate region off Jamnagar, near a sleepy village called Motikhavdi.

Leading world-class project consultants advised Dhirubhai against investing in the desert-like region that did not have roads, electricity, or even sufficient drinking water. They had warned that mobilising manpower, materials, technical experts and every other input in such wilderness would require extraordinary efforts.

Dhirubhai, who loved challenges, defied all the naysayers and went ahead with his dream. He wanted to create not just an industrial plant but a Nandanwan. Between 1996 and 1999, he and his highly motivated team went on to create an engineering marvel at Jamnagar.

The first private sector refinery of India single-handedly added 25 per cent to India's total refining capacity and made India self-sufficient in transport fuels, they said. The project completely transformed the barren region into a bustling industrial hub.

Moreover, Reliance's focused efforts created a green zone in the arid land, resulting in the lowering of temperature and improved rainfall in the region.

The Jamnagar refining complex now boasts of Asia's largest mango orchard, with over 1.5 lakh mango trees. The huge mangrove belt there has become a haven for migratory birds, and the surrounding dense forest houses theVantara --the one-of-its-kind rehabilitation home for rescued wild species.

A decade later, Reliance, through a subsidiary, build another refinery adjacent to the old one. The new unit capable of processing a whopping 580,000 barrels per day (29 million tonnes) turned Jamnagar into world's largest single site refining complex.

The refinery's most interesting feature is that it is one of the world's most complex. This enables it to turn cheaper heavy crudes into top quality products that meet increasingly tough specifications in western fuel markets. And in doing so it is able to compete with almost every refinery in the world.

The new refinery caters to only the export market while the older one meets domestic market demand.

This made Jamnagar not just a refinery but a 'super' refinery, they added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)