Essar to further boost refinery capacity

Nov. 10, 2010
Essar Oil Ltd., Mumbai, has decided to further expand distillation capacity of its 300,000-b/d refinery at Vadinar, Gujarat, India.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 10
-- Essar Oil Ltd., Mumbai, has decided to further expand distillation capacity of its 300,000-b/d refinery at Vadinar, Gujarat, India.

The company said a project to boost capacity to 375,000 b/d and raise processing complexity was 72% complete on Oct. 31, on target for mechanical completion of all but two units next March. A coker and vacuum gas oil hydrotreater remain about 3 months behind schedule (OGJ, Aug. 30, 2010, Newsletter).

By revamping six units, Essar plans to push capacity to about 415,000 b/d. The units are fluid catalytic cracking, diesel hydrodesulfurization, sour water stripping, diesel hydrotreating, vacuum gas oil hydrotreating, and delayed coking.

The company expects to complete optimization of those units by September 2012.