Essar Oil (EOL)) announced
today that it had dispatched the first cargo of 35,000 tons of vacuum gas oil
(VGO) from its refinery at Vadinar. This marks the beginning of supplies from
the refinery for the international market. The consignment was loaded in a
product tanker at Essar's port at Vadinar.
The refinery has a capacity
of 10.5 million tons per annum representing 7% of India's total refining
capacity. EOL will produce an entire range of products - LPG, aviation turbine
fuel, kerosene, diesel, petrol, and fuel oil. The refinery has been built with
state-of-the-art, contemporary technology and will have the capability to
produce products to meet the quality standards of India as well as advanced
international markets.
The refinery is configured
in a manner that allows it the flexibility to process diverse varieties and
qualities of crude such as light, heavy, sour or sweet crude.
The project cost of
Rs10,826 crore (USD 2.4 billion) is extremely competitive and lower than
estimated costs for a green field refinery making it the largest private sector
investment in recent years in the industry.
Essar Oil's refinery is
supported by dedicated infrastructure that includes utilities, terminals, crude
intake and product evacuation facilities. These include:
Vadinar Oil
Terminal,
which has an integrated facility to
receive crude through a single point mooring system and dispatch of finished
petroleum products through its product jetty. The terminal can handle 32
million tons per annum of crude intake with a capability of handling tankers up
to 350,000 DWT and product dispatch facilities with an annual capacity of 14
million tons. The terminal includes a port, a tank farm, associated pipeline
network and storage & dispatch facilities. The terminal has been built at a
cost of Rs2,857 crore (USD 635 million).
Vadinar Power
Company,
which
generates 120 MW of power at its co-generation plant and feeds both power and
process steam for the refinery.
Marketing
The company's products will have a ready market both internationally and in
India. The ideal location of the refinery near the Vadinar port ensures easy
access to all international markets including Europe and the USA.
The company's strategy of
commissioning its retail outlet in advance of the commissioning of the refinery
ensures a ready outlet for its products in India. The company will also be in a
position to supply to bulk consumers. Essar Oil has already commissioned over
900 retail outlets and expects to have 1500 outlets fully operational by the
end of March 2007.
Essar Constructions had a
major role in the engineering, planning and construction of the entire refinery
and had meticulously planned and executed the entire project in record time.
Essar Constructions has over 1000 highly qualified technical and skilled
manpower, besides the 16,000 people who worked at the refinery site during the
project phase. The Essar Group believes that the synergies and advantages of
the construction business have been a distinct advantage in building this
petroleum complex.
About Essar Oil
Essar Oil is a fully integrated oil company of international size and scale,
covering the entire value chain from exploration and production to refining and
retailing of oil. Essar has set up over 900 retail outlets, which are fully
operational, and plans to set up 2500 retail outlets by the end of 2007. Essar
Oil employs highly qualified and experienced technical staff at its refinery.
About Essar
The Essar Group is one of India's largest corporate houses, with interests
spanning the core and infrastructure sectors of industry - Steel, Oil &
Gas, Power, Telecom & BPO, Shipping and Construction. It has an asset base
in excess of US$6 billion (Rs27,000 crore) and employs 15,000 people.
