At a presentation to analysts, Essar Oil said it
stabalised operations at its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat at an expanded capacity of 20 million tonne per annum (mn tpa).
With this, the company has quadrupled processing of cheaper ultra heavy crude oils at the refinery, which is amongst the most complex units globally.
The firm made a presentation to analysts after July-September quarter financial results. The refinery’s diet of ultra heavy crude, which are cheaper and offer better margins, rose four fold to 64 per cent in July-September from 15 per cent a year ago. The refinery processed almost 3.21 mn t of ultra heavy crude oil in the quarter.
During the September quarter, the company turned 5.07 mn t of crude oil into products. Essar has signed term contracts for 70 per cent of crude oil requirement with Latin American, Middle East and domestic suppliers like Cairn India.
During the quarter under review, the firm’s gross refining margin rose to $7.86 from $5.07 per barrel in the same period a year ago. Gross refining margin is the realisation from turning every barrel of crude oil into petroleum product.
In September, the GRM was as high as $10.83 per barrel, Essar said adding full benefit of higher complexity post expansion projects will start getting reflected from the current quarter.
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