Nayara Energy signs $750-million contract with BP and Trafigura

Nayara Energy has signed a long-term $750-million prepayment contract for export of petroleum products to global oil majors BP and Trafigura.

The Mumbai-based company operates India’s second largest single-site refinery, with eight per cent of the country’s total capacity in the segment.

Russian government-owned Rosneft holds 49.13 per cent in Nayara. 

B Anand, chief executive, said the contract was backed by a consortium of “reputed international banks”. This comes at a time when BP has also announced a tie-up with Nayara’s competitor, Reliance Industries, for a joint venture company that will include a retail service station network and aviation fuel business across India.

A consortium of the Trafigura group and UCP Investment group holds another 49.13 per cent stake in Nayara, which bought over Essar Oil, which had an integrated oil refinery in Gujarat’s Vadinar. 

The refinery has annual crude oil throughput of 20 million tonnes, importing it from various regions.

Nayara is continually looking for innovative opportunities to optimise its capital structure,  Anand added. 

According to a Rosneft annual report, a project for maximising of added value on the catalytic cracking unit and petrochemicals production had been initiated at Vadinar. Nayara had announced last year that the company would set up a polypropylene plant with annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes, a foray into petrochemicals

"We endeavour to invest $850 million towards expansion into petrochemical units, and significantly contributing towards the development of the Devbhumi Dwarka district in Gujarat as a petrochemicals hub," said Anand. 

Neither Rosneftn or Nayara divulged whether the prepayment money would be used for its expansion projects. 

Nayara is the largest private sector fuel retailing company in India, with 5,285 outlets under its brand name as on July. This is 77 per cent of the total of 6,847 private sector fuel outlets in India – RIL has 1,400, Shell 155 and others run seven. 

Nayara is  planning to expand its network and might look at the possibility of adapting fuel stations into charging stations once the electric vehicle market picks up.

"We plan to further strengthen the (fuel retailing) network to over 7,000 by 2020, " Anand said.