Jamnagar - Economy

Economy

Jamnagar is today known as 'Oil City' because the world's biggest oil refinery belonging to Reliance Industries and a smaller one belonging to Essar Oil are located in Jamnagar. It was earlier known as 'Brass City', the city housing more than 5,000 large scale and 10,000 small scale units manufacturing brass items in and around the industrial estates of Shankar Tekari, Udhyognagar, M P Shah Udhyognagar and Dared. There are about 4,500 units of Brass Part in Jamnagar district supplying their products to major electric and electronic factories located in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai

The Jamnagar Refinery is a private sector crude oil refinery owned by Reliance Industries Limited in Jamnagar, India. The refinery was commissioned on 14 July 1999 with an installed capacity of 661,000 barrels per day (105,100 m3/d). It is the largest refinery in the world. The refinery is currently undergoing massive expansion, scheduled for commissioning in 2008, that will double its capacity to 1.2 million barrels per day (190,000 m3/d).

According to an article in the 28 April 2008 issue of Fortune Magazine, the world-class Reliance Industries oil refinery at Jamnagar will output 1.2 million US gallons (4,500 m3) of petroleum, or 5% of the world's capacity, after an expansion is completed in December 2008. The expansion had begun in October 2005 and is managed by San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation. The expanded refinery consumes an area equal to 1/3 the size of Manhattan. The refinery is advanced in that it can process a wide range of crude oils, including heavy high-sulfur sour crude, which many refineries can not handle. Reliance Industries has said that the refinery's output is for export only, and will not be sold domestically within India. Reliance is targeting the U.S. market for gasoline and the European market for diesel. The refinery is owned by Reliance's Reliance Petroleum Ltd. unit, in which U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. has a 5% stake. (also see article in the Friday, 26 December 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal)

Jamnagar has base stations of all three wings of Defence. Indian Air Force, Indian Army & Indian Navy all the three wings have their training and big bases. Geographically Jamnagar supports all branches of defence as it has access to the sea for Indian Navy and a large Air Base including Army due to the city's strategic location close to Pakistan. The city has an All weather Intermediate Sea port, Bedi Port, just seven kilometers away, through which various merchandise is imported and exported. According to the recent figures available from the local Port Office, in 2007–2008 exports were 3,912,402 metric tons & imports 1,388,181 Metric Tons for a total 5,300,583 metric tons. The major commodity that has exported from this Port are Bauxite, soya Meal extraction, Ground nut extraction while the imports are coal, fertilizer and other items. Due to the locational advantage with respect to the vast hinder land compromising of Central & North, India, and also due to proximity to the Gulf countries gives Jamnagar a status of most favored Port among the exporters & Importers. This is also one of the main reasons which encouraged the Reliance Group to set up their Grass root petro-refining unit and other subsidiary Industries. At present, Reliance Group has developed their own Port Terminal facility at Sikka.

Also Jamnagar has huge reserves of Bauxite contributing 96% to the total production in the state.

Jamnagar is also famous for its Bandhni clothes. Approximately 10% Jamnagar derives its income from this industry; this clothing is traditional in Jamnagar, and it is exported outside of India. There is a temple to Shiva named "Siddhnath" in Nageshwar.