Essar Oil Ltd. plans to invest more than Rs 1,600 crore in its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, in an attempt to boost gross refining margins by an additional $1.50 per barrel.
The company has already invested Rs 400 crore in its Vadinar refinery during a planned 28-day shutdown in September and October last year, it said in a press release. An additional Rs 1,200 crore investment will be made to upgrade various refinery units over the course of 2-3 years, the release added.
The planned shutdown, apart from its routine maintenance, also involved the conversion of a VGO-HT unit into a mild hydrocracker (MHC) unit. This allowed the refinery to convert its complete Vaccum Gas Oil production into higher margin products.
The company has been able to turn out higher quantities of crude since the upgrade, C Manoharan, Director of Refinery at Essar Oil, said in the press release.
Post the shutdown, we havebeen able to modify our crude blend to process higher quantities of ultra-heavy and high TANcrudes, and increase the production of high value distillates. This has enabled Essar Oil toimprove its crude and product mix significantly, which is reflected in our financial performanceC Manoharan, Director-Refinery, Essar Oil
Essar Oil now aims to upgrade its naptha hydro treater, isomerisation unit, continuous catalytic reformer units and facilitate additional recover of sulphur through the Rs 1200 crore investment.
The Vadinar refinery currently contributes 9 percent to India's refining capacity, the press release added.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
