Essar Oil commissions two units of Vadinar Refinery in Jamnagar

Essar Oil Ltd today said it had commissioned two more units of the Vadinar Refinery in Jamnagar district of Gujarat as it steps up the pace to complete the Rs8,300 crore expansion plan on schedule.

The company has commissioned the vacuum gas oil hydrotreating unit (VGOHDT) and the Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU) at Vadinar. It has also commissioned an effluent treatment plant as part of the Phase-I expansion project to be completed by the end of March 2012, EOL said in Ahmedabad.
 
The delayed coker unit alone remains to be commissioned now and when the project is completed it would expand the capacity of the refinery to 18 MTPA or 3.75 lakh barrels per day, and enhance complexity from the existing 6.1 to 11.8, which is amongst the highest in the world, according to C Manoharan, head of the Vadinar Refinery, said.

With a capacity of 6.5 MTPA, the VGOHDT at Vadinar is among the largest units of its kind and would help the refinery produce low-sulphur, high-octane gasoline (petrol). The unit would also produce naphtha, kerosene and gas oil (diesel).

Managing director and CEO, Essar Oil, LK Gupta said the Vadinar Refinery, would be among the world's most complex refineries, capable of producing fuels that met the world's most stringent emission norms.

The ETP would treat 540 cubic metre of water per hour, which would be reused for the cooling tower or for the generation of demineralised water through the RO plant, with the treated water fit for use in horticulture.

Along with the Phase I expansion, an optimisation project is also under implementation, which would further increase the capacity to 20 MTPA (4.05 lakh bpd) by September 2012.

Shares of Essar Oil were up over 5 per cent in trade today after the company successfully commissioned its new Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrating (VGOHDT) unit and Sulphur Recovery unit at its Vadinar refinery.

(Also see: Essar Oil commissions diesel hydrotreater unit at Vadinar refinery complex)