June 5, 2012Essar Oil announced that it completed its Optimisation Project four months ahead of schedule to add 11.1% capacity to its refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, which now stands at 20 MMTPA or 405,000 barrels per day. The scrip gained around 1.6% on the news to reach intra-day high of ’ 51.30 but lost steam on overall market weakness later in the day. This optimisation project will not only add volumes growth, but also enable the company earn better margins. Vadinar Refinery now has the capability to process much heavier crude diet. The share of ultra heavy crude will go up to 60%, and as a result, the overall share of heavy and ultra heavy crude will go upto 80% of the refinery’s total crude basket. Close to 80% of its production will now be of valuable light and middle distillates; and more than 50% of the production of gas oil (diesel) and gasoline (petrol) will meet Euro IV and Euro V specifications.