Essar plans Rs. 6,000-cr capex at Vadinar refinery.

Ruias-led energy major, Essar Group, plans to invest Rs. 6,000 crore over three years towards brownfield expansion of its existing oil refinery at Vadinar near Jamnagar in Gujarat.

At the Global CEO Conclave held at the Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) near Gandhinagar, Prashant Ruia, CEO, Essar Group announced an investment of Rs. 6,000 crore for expansion of the company's Vadinar refinery, which has an existing capacity of 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

The Global CEO Conclave was part of the Seventh Edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit - 2015 (VGGS) on January 11.

'We have been investing in Gujarat. Out of the total investments by Essar in India, about 80 per cent is in Gujarat. We will invest Rs. 6,000 crore for capacity addition at our existing refinery at Jamnagar. This will happen over a period of three years,' Ruia said.

The Jamnagar refinery handles diverse range of crude - from sweet to sour and light to heavy crude oil.

However, Ruia did not mention the proposed capacity addition with the investment.

Essar Group has been one of the few big Indian corporate groups to be a regular participant at the Vibrant Gujarat Summits, the brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Interestingly, Essar Oil shares have surged by close to 90 per cent in the past one year since January 14, 2013.


HBL