Essar Oil Limited's 20 MTPA Vadinar refinery is looking at earning an additional $1.50 (per barrel of crude) on its Gross Refinery Margin (GRM) on the back of Rs1,600 crore of investments. The company has already invested Rs 400 crore during a 28-day planned shutdown of the refinery in September-October last year. A further Rs 1,200 crore will be invested to make additional upgrades in the various refinery units over the next 2-3 years.

The shutdown or turnaround activity involved not just routine inspection and maintenance, but also entailed the conversion of the VGO-HT unit into a mild hydrocracker (MHC) unit and the setting up of facilities to process High Acid (TAN) Crudes. Ever since, the refinery has been able to convert its entire VGO (Vacuum Gas Oil) production into higher margin products.

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