India Reliance Pet says refinery 97 pct complete

NEW DELHI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPET.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday its 580,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Western state of Gujarat was 97 percent complete.

"Construction is nearing completion and the focus has now shifted from mechanical completion to start up," the firm, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RELI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), said in a statement.

It said facilities such as tankfarms, blending systems and other storage systems had been commissioned and some process units were currently under pre-commissioning trials.

The statement did not say when the refinery would be commissioned.

Oil secretary R. S. Pandey said earlier this month that the refinery would be commissioned by the end of November.

Reliance Industries, India's most-valuable listed firm, runs a 660,000 bpd refinery next to the new project in Jamnagar.

Shares in Reliance Petroleum, in which Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) owns a 5 percent stake, gained 5.9 percent to 106.4 rupees in a Mumbai market .BSESN that rose 4.5 percent. ($1=49 rupees) (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by John Mair)