Essar Oil back in the black with Rs 130-cr net

MUMBAI: Essar Oil, London-listed Essar Energy’s refinery arm, on Monday said it has booked a quarterly net profit of Rs 130 crore, against a loss of Rs 94 crore last year, mainly due to a sharp rise in refinery margins in the backdrop of a global fuel demand recovery. The country’s second-largest private refiner recorded a net income growth of 11% at Rs 12,415 crore for the quarter ended September 30.

“Good refining margins compared to last year and rise in demand for oil products globally helped the company recover from losses,” said managing director Naresh Nayyar in a conference call. Essar Oil’s refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, with a capacity of 3.69 million tonnes, continues to better its throughput in every successive quarter since it started commercial operations. “The refinery generated its highest throughput; our PAT grew manifold and the GRM increased by over 50%,” said Mr Nayyar.

The gross margins for refining a barrel of crude oil increased to $6.49 from $4.24 during the corresponding quarter last year. The expansion project to enhance capacity to 18 million tonnes is largely on track. Almost 70% of the project has been completed.