Essar Oil to boost equity by $340 million

India’s Essar Oil Ltd. plans to put up an additional US$340 million in equity next year to fund the expansion of its Vadinar refinery in the West Indian state of Gujarat. “We have already put in US$300 million as equity and hope to put in the remainder this year and next year,” said P. Sampath, the company’s finance director. Essar Oil plans to expand the name plate capacity of the refinery to 34 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) by December 2011, from 10.5 million, and will spend about US$6 billion to achieve this. In the first phase, the company plans to take the capacity to 16 million by putting in US$640 million as equity and US$920 million in debt. Naresh Nayyar, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), said the company has received loan approval from ICICI Bank, IDBI and the State Bank of India. (July 21, 2009)