Essar Energy commissions new unit at refinery

Indian energy firm Essar Energy, currently under a cloud as the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation investigates some of its senior executives, switched attention to operational matters with news of the first phase of its Vadinar Refinery expansion.

The company's Essar Oil subsidiary has successfully commissioned the Amine Regeneration Unit (ARU), a step in the planned expansion of the refinery's capacity from 14m tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 18 mtpa. The phase 1 project is nearing completion and increased throughput of 18 mtpa will commence by March 2012.

Essar said the expansion will also increase the Nelson complexity index value of the refinery from 6.1 to 11.8; the higher the index value, the higher "value added" potential a refinery has.

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An optimisation project is also under execution at the refinery to further increase the capacity to 20 mtpa by September 2012. The capacity expansion, complexity enhancement and subsequent optimisation will give the Vadinar refinery the capability to process nearly 87% ultra-heavy crude oils, which are lower cost than light crude oils. In terms of product yield, the expanded Vadinar Refinery will have the flexibility to produce higher value products, including pet coke.

The ARU at the Vadinar Refinery is one of the largest such units in the world, Essar claimed. The operational readiness of the ARU is essential to ensure smooth operations of the diesel hydrotreater and vacuum gasoil hydrotreater units.

Shares in Essar Energy were trading at 166.4p in the lunch-time session, down 4.2p on the day.

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