Refining margins rise at Essar Energy
India-focused Essar Energy this morning reported a jump in refining margins for the three months to December, thanks to a major expansion in refining capacity at its Vadinar plant.
Refining margins at Vadinar over the quarter jumped 246 per cent to $9.75 (£6.18) a barrel, up from $2.82 over the same quarter last year, thanks to a major expansion in refining capacity to 405,000 barrels a day from 300,000 previously, combined with an increased ability to refine heavier low-cost crude oils into high-value products like diesel and jet fuel.
Essar Energy, India’s second-largest private refiner, said throughput at the Gujurat refinery soared 77 per cent to 36.32m barrels.
At Essar’s UK-based Stanlow refinery, margins were up 128 per cent at $5.59 a barrel.
Additionally, power generation almost doubled in the third quarter to 2.86bn units, from 1.48bn units a year earlier, primarily due to three new projects coming up stream over the past year.