Essar defers refinery maintenance to July-Aug

Delay to avoid overlap with scheduled repairs at other refineries

Essar Oil will defer planned maintenance at its Vadinar refinery in western Gujarat state by about two months to July-August, trade sources said on Wednesday.

The delay was intended to avoid an overlap with scheduled repairs at other refineries in India and to profit from current robust refining margins, they said.

Essar had planned to shut the 405,000-barrel-per-day Vadinar refinery for about four weeks of maintenance in May-June, a company spokesman said in February.