Essar Oil to invest $250 mn in Stanlow Refinery

Essar Oil UK has said it would invest $250 million in its Stanlow Refinery to increase production, improve focus on high-value products and expand its crude-oil sourcing basket in order to save costs and improve margins. The investment will be funded through internal accruals.

The company also looks to expand its retail network in UK from the current 36 stations to 400 stations in the next five years. Essar Oil UK did not share any investment figures for these outlets. However, the company said, these 400 stations would be a combination of companyowned and franchise outlets. A company-owned outlet entails a rough investment of $2 million per station. Officials said the $250-million investment includes $200 million towards capital expenditure and another $50 million as working capital requirements. The company has so far invested up to $800 million to turnaround the Stanlow facility. “The investment in 2018 will increase annual throughput from 68 million to 75 million barrels,” the firm said. The investment will be completed in the current financial year, according to the company.