Essar Oil to invest $250 mn in Stanlow refinery

Essar Oil UK looks to invest $250 million in its Stanlow refinery to increase production, improve focus on high-value products and expand its crude oil sourcing basket to save costs and improve margins.

"Essar Oil UK will invest $250 million as capital expenditure and maintenance in its Stanlow refinery to improve throughput and yields," the company said in its statement on Wednesday. The investment will be funded through internal accruals.

The company officials added that the $250 million includes $200 million towards capital expenditure and another $50 million as working capital requirements. The company so far has invested up to $800 million to turn around the Stanlow facility. "Major investment in 2018 will increase annual throughput from 68 million to 75 million barrels," the company said in its statement. These investments will be completed in the current financial year and is expected to bring in an additional margin of $1 per barrel for the company.

"Production of high-value products like ethylene will increase, resulting in an additional margin of $1 per barrel from where we are today. The biggest gain comes from opening up our crude basket and hence reduce crude cost," company officials said on a media call on Wednesday. The company has already expanded its crude oil sourcing beyond the North Sea, to geographies like North America and Africa.
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