Essar Oil to invest Rs 6k cr to expand Vadinar refinery in Gujarat

Essar Oil, which has a 20 million tonne per annum (MTPA) refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, plans to pump in Rs 6,000 crore to expand its capacity.

The plant started commercial production in 2008. Prashant Ruia, Group CEO of Essar, announced the refinery's expansion plans at the Vibrant Gujarat event.

In 2012, the refinery capacity had been expanded to 20 MTPA, with an increase in its complexity from 6.1 to 11.8 on the Nelson index, making it India's second largest single-location refinery and amongst the most complex globally. Reliance's refineries at Jamnagar are the largest in the country.

Essar's refinery produces LPG, naphtha, light diesel oil, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and kerosene. It has been designed to handle a diverse range of crude - from sweet to sour and light to heavy.

It is supported by an end-to-end infrastructure setup, including SBM (single buoy mooring), crude oil tanker facility, water intake facilities, a captive power plant, product jetty, and dispatch facilities by both rail and road.

Vadinar refinery has processed more than 75 varieties of crude from across the world, including some of the toughest crudes.

In 2011, Essar acquired the Stanlow Refinery from Shell, the second largest refinery in England.

The refinery is located near Liverpool in northwest England, on the south bank of the Manchester ship canal. With a capacity of 296,000 barrels per day, it supplies approximately 15 per cent of the country's transport fuel requirements.