Essar's Vadinar unit starts production

Essar Oil (EOL) today has commenced commercial production from its 10.5 million tonne refinery at Vadinar near Jamnagar.

It said that it had dispatched the first cargo of 35,000 tonne of Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) to British Petroleum from the Vadinar refinery "" its first supply to the international market. The second consignment of naphtha has also been dispatched to Glencore.

S K Sinha, managing director, Essar Oil, said that the firm would be more focused on exports as retail business is still not attractive enough to divert major products like gasoline and diesel.

The company has estimated that with all of its 2500 retail outlets, it would need close to 5 million tonne of capacity to cater to the domestic demand for diesel and gasoline.

Sinha said the company plans to divert most of its products to export market.