Essar Oil today said negotiations to buy Royal Dutch Shell's three European refineries will continue beyond the expiry of the exclusive talks period today.
"Shell and Essar can confirm that negotiations for the possible sale and purchase of Shell's three refineries at Stanlow in the UK, and Heide and Harburg in Germany will continue beyond the end of November," Essar said in a statement.
Earlier, this month Essar said it has time till month end to conclude talks for acquisition of Royal Dutch Shell's three refineries in Europe.
"The exclusivity period is till November 30," Essar Oil CEO and Managing Director Naresh K Nayyar had said.
The Hamburg unit has capacity to process 107,000 barrels per day of crude, while Heide has a capacity of 83,000 barrels a day. Stanlow, Britain's second-largest refinery, can process 2,72,000 barrels a day.
Essar is considering buying three Shell refineries as part of its strategy to have a refining capacity of at least one million bpd globally, Nayyar had said.
The company currently operates a 2,80,000 bpd refinery at Vadinar in Jamnagar district of Gujarat and has 50 per cent stake in 80,000 bpd refinery at Mombasa in Kenya. The Vadinar refinery is to be expanded to 7,00,000 bpd by 2012.
