Essar Oil invests in Stanlow Refinery

The Stanlow Refinery produces 16% of the UK’s road transport fuel demand and processed 9.09 million t of crude.

Including FY18, Essar will have invested over US$800 million since acquiring Stanlow in July 2011, helping to turnaround the business and deliver significant improvement in the following areas:

• Safety performance: this remains a critical business objective, with continuous investment in health, safety and environment to further improve standards. Stanlow achieved the Order of Distinction for 21 consecutive Gold awards in the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Health and Safety Awards 2017. Connection to the national gas grid enabled the refinery to meet tighter environmental legislation regarding emissions.
• A continued focus on margin booster initiatives and cost efficiencies: this has seen significant improvement in the operating and financial performance over this period. In FY15, Essar reconfigured and optimised Stanlow to a single train operation which increased the yield of high margin products such as gasoline and middle distillates, while the crude slate has been materially diversified with the introduction of 37 new grades.
• Investment in the Tiger Cub project: additional works are planned for the major block turnaround in 2018 will drive further margin upsides by way of increased throughput and unit margins. As such, Essar will then have delivered a hydrocarbon margin improvement of +US$5/bbl since acquisition in 2011.

During FY17, a number of new monthly records were established for the highest CD4 Distiller crude throughput under Essar’s ownership, the highest amount of residue upgraded via Europe’s largest catalytic cracker and the highest ever production levels of diesel, alkylate and propylene.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/08092017/essar-oil-invests-in-stanlow-refinery/