OREANDA-NEWS. March 13, 2012. Phase I expansion project at Vadinar Refinery firmly on track; to be completed by end of March 2012

Diesel Hydrotreater to help refinery produce Euro V grade gasoil (diesel)

Mumbai: Essar Oil Ltd. today announced the successful commissioning of a Diesel Hydrotreater Unit I (DHDT-I) at its Vadinar Refinery. With the phase wise commissioning of three additional units slated for the end of this month, the refinery is now firmly on track to complete the Phase I expansion by March 2012, which entails the addition of nine new units that will expand capacity to 18 MMTPA (375,000 barrels per day) and enhance complexity to 11.8 (from 6.1 currently). With this commissioning, Essar Oil’s capital expenditure programme is beginning to taper downwards and will see substantial pick up in revenue and profitability of the company going forward.

The 4-million-tonne DHDT-I at the Vadinar Refinery will upgrade diesel quality by treating the sour diesel streams and achieving reduction in sulphur as well as an improvement in the cetane index. The DHDT-I will thus ensure that the diesel produced at the refinery will be capable of meeting Euro V specifications. Essar Oil has already commissioned the Isomerization Unit, which was the first expansion unit to be commissioned, that gives the refinery the capability to produce gasoline of high octane rating and almost zero sulphur content.

Market for low sulphur content fuel is rapidly expanding, with 20 top Indian cities requiring retailing of only Euro IV compliant fuels. In the EU (European Union), the Euro V standard has been applied since 2009.

LK Gupta, MD & CEO, Essar Oil, said, “We have now commissioned two key units that will help us produce gasoil (diesel) and gasoline (petrol) conforming to international standards. We are very close to realizing the scale that we had set out to achieve for the Vadinar Refinery. The increased complexity that we will have post expansion will give us greater flexibility to produce higher value fuels that have a growing market both in India and overseas.”

Alongside the Phase I expansion, an optmisation project is also underway at the Vadinar Refinery that will further increase the capacity to 20 MMTPA (405,000 bpd) by September 2012. The capacity expansion, complexity enhancement and subsequent optimisation will give the Vadinar refinery the capability to process over 80% heavy and 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, high-quality products, including pet coke.