Essar Energy’s subsidiary Essar Oil has successfully commissioned the Amine Regeneration Unit (ARU), which is a part of the Phase I expansion at its Vadinar Refinery. The Vadinar Refinery's capacity will increase from 14 MMTPA (300,000 bpd) currently to 18 MMTPA (375,000 bpd) after completion of Phase I expansion; it will also increase its complexity from 6.1 to 11.8.
The project is nearing completion and increased throughput of 18 MMTPA will commence by March 2012. An optimization project is also under execution at the refinery to further increase the capacity to 20 MMTPA (405,000 bpd) by September 2012. The capacity expansion, complexity enhancement and subsequent optimization will give the Vadinar refinery the capability to process nearly 87% ultra-heavy crudes, which are lower cost than light crudes.
In terms of product yield, the expanded Vadinar Refinery will have the flexibility to produce higher value products, including pet coke. After the commissioning of the Isomerization Unit last month, the refinery team is working towards ensuring the commissioning of all the remaining units that form a part of company’s Phase I expansion.
Essar Oil is a fully integrated oil & gas company of international scale with strong presence across the hydrocarbon value chain from exploration and production to refining and oil retail.
