RPL - a world record - Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Petroleum's new export-oriented 29 million tonne refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat is will start generating revenues from this year.
Reliance Petroleum (RPL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani in an address to its shareholders during the company's third Annual General Meeting said, "I am happy to announce that refinery will start generating revenues from this year itself. RPL team is set to create a world record by constructing the new refinery at Jamnagar in less than 36 months."

The refinery with commission deadline in December 2008 will be completed ahead of schedule, said Ambani.

The refinery is adjacent to RIL's existing 33 million tonne refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat and with the existing RIL refinery at Jamnagar, it will have a total processing capacity of 1.24 million barrels per day – the largest and most complex in the world. The project was conceptualised in December 2005 and construction started in April 2006.

On completion, the RPL refinery will have the ability to process heavy and sour crude. It will also produce value added products meeting the highest quality specifications in the world.

"Asia and Middle East will be contributing 60-70 per cent of incremental demand. Our refinery will be well positioned to supply to these markets too. Europe appears to be the most attractive export market for diesel, which is in high demand at the moment. The most important markets for gasoline will be US, Africa and the Middle East. The RPL refinery will earn foreign exchange for the country by exporting its superior quality products to America, Europe and Asian markets. It should increase global production capacity of both gasoline and diesel by around 1per cent," he added.

Ambani expects that prospects for the refining sector will remain encouraging. "The long term outlook for refining margins continues to be positive specially for complex refiners like RPL. This is because of robust demand, tight product supplies and slow growth of new capacities dogging an already stretched refining system," he added.

At time of the RPL refinery project announcement, a number of large scale greenfield export refineries have also been announced in the Middle East and Asia. "RPL will be the first off the mark with a multi-year lead over other Greenfield refineries. This will give it a huge advantage," said Ambani.

During the year, the number of RPL shareholders rose from 12 lakh to nearly 20 lakh. The RPL refinery will be one of the most complex refineries in the world with a Nelson Complexity Index of 14.0.

via Business Standard

Double Whammy - Market Outlook

Double Whammy - Market Outlook

Bulls getting reigned by the bears ?

Whats your opinion ?

Vote in the Poll at the beginning of pagel - see the previous polls

Grey Market - Avon Weighing, Archid Ply Industries, Lotus Eye Care Hosipital

Bafna Pharmaceutical 40 10 to 12

Avon Weighing 10 3 to 4

Sejal Architectural Glass Ltd. 105 to 115 26 to 28

First Winners Ind. Ltd. 120 to 130 16 to 18

Archid Ply Ind. 70 to 80 8 to 10

Lotus Eye Care Hospital 38 to 42 4 to 6

Dow down and out; drops 395 points

A spike in oil prices by over $11 send US markets into a tailspin with the Dow recording its worst fall in a year.

The Dow Jones industrial lost 395 points, or 3.1%, its biggest one-day decline since February of 2007.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 3.1%, while the Nasdaq lost 3%. The S&P and Nasdaq witnessed their biggest declines in four months.

Fears that the US economy is in recession seem to be getting confirmed with Unemployment rate rising to a 20-year-high to 5.5% in May from 5.0% in April.

Morgan Stanley had circulated a note that stated oil could hit $150 a barrel by July 4.

Weekly Market Round up - June 7 2008

Sensex opened on a positive note with a gain of 176 points at 16,591.However, the enthusiasm slipped on news of political differences at the Centre over raising of domestic retail fuel prices and weak opening in European markets. Sensex pared the initial gains and fell to 16,063.18, down by 2.15 per cent on Monday.

Improved automobile sales for the May gave the much needed boost to the BSE Auto index. Major auto stocks came into the buyers radar and made appreciable gains.

Fears of an imminent interest rate hike by the central bank as inflation continues to rise to record levels affected the sentiment for the banking stocks. While the Sensex witnessed a fall of 1.75 per cent in a week's time, the Bankex tumbled by 6.11 per cent.

Metals and mining stocks continued to weaken for two consecutive days on profit booking largely by institutional investors.

However, steel stocks at Tuesday's close managed to pare down the losses compared with that on Monday. Aluminium and zinc stocks closed lower.

On Wednesday, the Government announced a substantial hike in fuel prices after a protracted delay, keeping investors away.

Markets were in jitters, expecting this measure may lead to inflationary pressures on the economy, thereby affecting corporate profitability. Turbulence in the market pulled down the Sensex by 448 to close at 15,480 ; the broader S&P CNX Nifty fell 2.76 per cent, to end at 4,585.60.

Oil marketing stocks feel the heat on Wednesday as investors liquidated their long positions in these stocks even after the announcement of the oil price hike. The BSE Oil & Gas index shed 353 points or 3.39 per cent from the previous day's close, while the Sensex was down 2.81 per cent.

As soon as the fuel price hike announcement came, the share prices of oil marketing firms surged more than 5 per cent. They witnessed the highest rise. At their intra-day highs, BPCL was trading at Rs 371, IOC at Rs 452 and HPCL at Rs 256.

On Thursday,the Sensex, gained 254.93 points, or 1.6 per cent, to end at 15,769.72. It traded between 15,314.02 and 15,814.80 during the session.

However, oil marketers fell sharply on concerns that the retail fuel price hike may not be enough to cover their revenue losses, with the companies having to cough up Rs 20,000 crore in the current fiscal compared with Rs 16,300 crore losses last year.

Hindustan Petroleum fell 6.3 per cent to Rs 226.30, Bharat Petroleum shed 7 per cent to Rs 301.35 and Indian Oil closed 6.3 per cent down at Rs 391.90.

Reliance Industries fell 2.6 per cent to Rs 2, 247.65 as crude oil prices fell to a three-week low of around $122 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.

On Fridy,the Sensex, after a strong opening at 15914.41,pared the early gains and closed at 15,572.18,lower by 197.54 points. Selling pressure emerged in the fag end of trading, particularly in metal, realty and banking sectors. In a choppy trade, the key index touched the day's low of 15,526.50 and a high of 15,970.70 points. The markets continue to show signs of weakness and the Sensex cumulatively lost 843.39 points to finish the week at 15,572.18.