(64c) A Global Project Management Case Study - the World's Largest Oil Refinery

When the first phase of the Reliance Jamnagar Oil Refinery was completed in 1999 in Gujarat, India, it was one of the world's largest, most sophisticated oil refineries, producing 650,000 barrels a day (BPD). In 2004, Reliance decided to double its capacity by building a second refinery, making it irrefutably the largest refinery in the world, producing 1.2 million barrels of oil a day.

Eight primary execution centres were established around the world to engineer the new facility. Reliance Industries set the goal to an extremely ambitious delivery timeframe of just three years from initial concept to product out ? whereas similar projects typically take eight to ten years.

Gareth Williams headed up the Toronto execution centre, responsible for four process units including three hydrotreaters, and a CCR platformer. The Naphtha hydrotreater and the CCR platformer were among the largest units of their type ever designed and built in the world.

The project was incredibly complex, both from a technical and a human perspective. The owner's management and the primary process design team were based in London, England. The construction site was in Jamnagar, India, technology providers were located mostly in the US, and equipment suppliers were located around the world from Korea to Italy and India. Williams managed a team of 200 to 300 in Toronto, along with vendors and technology providers across numerous time zones and cultures, coordinating a mix of technical standards, operating methods and processes.