India's Reliance eyes new investments in China, Middle East

03 May 2005 08:52  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (CNI)--After making a bid for Australia’s Qenos, India’s Reliance Industries could turn its eyes on investment opportunities in China and the Middle East in its attempt to become a truly global petrochemical company, industry sources told CNI.

 

According to reports in early April, Reliance, India’s biggest publicly listed company which has interests in oil and petrochemicals, made a bid for Qenos, a joint venture between Orica and ExxonMobil that operates three crackers and polyethylene (PE) plants at Altona and Botany Bay.

 

Reliance also bought India’s National Organic Chemical Industries Ltd (Nocil), which has a ethylene capacity of 85,000 tonne/year, and Trevira, a European polyester maker, in 2004.

 

The source said that the company had held preliminary talks with companies in China and the Middle East, and firmer details should emerge in the second half of 2005. He added that the company was looking at downstream investments in China and upstream operations in several Middle East countries.

 

“There are more emerging opportunities for upstream investments in the Middle East. There is ample feedstock, and the markets are getting better with easier access to the Western European and Indian markets,” said the source.

 

“In China, it will be tough to get into the upstream markets as they are going to be dominated by the local companies in the coming years. But there are likely to be plenty of opportunities in the downstream markets such as polymers, and that is what Reliance is interested in," he said.
By: Siva Govindasamy
+65 6780 4359

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