MUMBAI, INDIA: Essar Oil said that it will invest an additional Rs 1200 crore over the next 2-3 years to upgrade its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat (India) to boost refinery margins by Rs 100.18 ($1.5) per barrel.
The company has already invested Rs 400 crore during a planned shutdown of the refinery in September-October last year. The investment will be made to upgrade various refinery units over the next years, said the company in a statement.
Essar Oil as of now runs a 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity refinery at Vadinar has already earmarked and acquired land which is around 5km away from the refinery to develop a petrochemical complex that would produce gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and propylene among other products.
“This new investment is being made to upgrade its naphtha hydro treater (NHT), isomerisation unit, continuous catalytic reformer units and also facilities for further recovery of sulphur to further improve its margins,” Essar Oil said in a press statement.
“After the shutdown, we have been able to change our crude blend to process higher quantities of ultra-heavy and high TAN crudes, and increase the production of high value distillates. This has enabled Essar Oil to enhance its crude and product mix significantly, which is reflected in our financial performance,” said Manoharan, director of refinery, Essar Oil.
"We are focused on making our refinery among the best in the world through efficient deployment of resources. We will take a path of safety and sustainability in reaching our goals. We believe in setting new benchmarks for the industry,” added Lalit Kumar Gupta, managing director and CEO of Essar Oil.
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