Essar Oil commissions ISOM unit at Vadinar refinery

Essar Oil today announced commissioning of a new Isomerisation unit at its Vadinar refinery that will help the firm produce Euro IV grade petrol of high octane rating and almost zero sulphur content.

"The 0.7 million tonne per annum ISOM Unit is a key component of the Phase-I expansion of the company's Vadinar refinery that will increase its capacity to 18 million tonne," Essar Oil, a unit of London-listed Essar Energy, said in a press statement here.

Among the largest ISOM units in the world, the commissioning of this unit was completed in just 32 days (as against an industry average of 50-55 days), without compromising on safety.

Essar Energy CEO Naresh Nayyar said: "This achievement is testimony to [company employee's] world-class expertise and demonstrates the concerted effort they are making to ensure that the expansion project is completed within schedule and budget."

"Using Naphtha as its primary feed, the Vadinar Refinery's ISOM unit will help produce Euro IV grade gasoline [petrol] of high octane rating and almost zero sulphur content," the statement said.

Euro IV norms require cleaner fuels that have very low sulphur content —- less than 50 parts per million.

Essar said the Vadinar refinery expansion project was very close to completion.

Mechanical completion has been achieved for 27 new units and utilities that are being added as part of the expansion. Mechanical completion of the pending units —- namely the DCU (Delayed Coker Unit), VGO-HT (Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrotreater) and a new SRU (Sulphur Recovery Unit) —- is expected by the end of the month.

"Increased refinery throughput of 18 million tonne (as against 14 million tonne currently) will commence in the first quarter of 2012," it said.

When completed, the Phase I expansion will increase the refinery's complexity from 6.1 currently to 11.8 enabling it to process most difficult crude oil found in the world.

"An optimisation project is also under execution at the refinery to further increase the capacity to 20 million tonne by September 2012," the statement said.

The capacity expansion, complexity enhancement and subsequent optimisation will give the Vadinar refinery the capability to process nearly 87% ultra-heavy crudes, which are lower cost than light crudes. In terms of product yield, the expanded Vadinar Refinery will have the flexibility to produce higher value products, including pet coke.