Essar Oil Limited’s 20 MTPA Vadinar refinery is looking at earning an additional USD 1.50 (per barrel of crude) on its Gross Refinery Margin (GRM) on the back of INR 1,600Cr of investments. The company has already invested INR 400Cr during a 28-day planned shutdown of the refinery in September-October last year. A further INR 1,200Cr will be invested to make additional upgrades in the various refinery units over the next 2-3 years.
The shutdown or turnaround activity involved not just routine inspection and maintenance, but also entailed the conversion of the VGO-HT unit into a mild hydrocracker (MHC) unit and the setting up of facilities to process High Acid (TAN) Crudes. Ever since, the refinery has been able to convert its entire VGO (Vacuum Gas Oil) production into higher margin products.
Mr Lalit Kumar Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of Essar Oil, said: “We are committed to 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 with our efforts. With the shutdown having been successfully completed, EBITDA and PAT in the current financial year is expected to be significantly higher because of the full availability of the refinery, stable crude oil prices, and our ability to optimally leverage on the investments in the MHC and high TAN facilities.”