Essar Oil jumps 18% on block deal

DALAL STREET SPIKES

Essar Oil went up by 18 per cent to close at Rs 57.15 after there was a huge block deal of 1.42 crore shares at Rs 49 per share on this counter. The block deal roughly amounts to one per cent of its equity capital of Rs 1,145.50 crore.

The counter clocked a high volume of 2.76 crore shares on BSE against an average volume of about 72.42 lakh. Essar Oil's Rs 10,000 crore refinery at Vadinar, Gujarat, is slated to go onstream by July this year.

The refinery will have a capacity of 7 million tonne to begin with. It will be increased to 10.5 million tonne by January '07. The refinery would eventually produce between 10.5-12 million tonne of processed products per annum.

The company plans to produce middle distillates such as superior kerosene oil and high-speed diesel. These products account for over 60 per cent of the total demand for petroleum products in India.

It will also produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and lead-free motor gasoline of various octane levels for the domestic markets and high-octane lead-free gasoline for export.