Russia’s
oil major Rosneft plans to close the deal on purchase of a 49% stake in
the Indian Essar Oil refinery in 2016, President and Chairman of the
management board Igor Sechin said Wednesday.
"We’ve had constructive talks in the course of the visit, and
arranged a preliminary settlement regarding the procedures to finalize
the deal (on purchase of a 49% stake in the Indian Essar Oil refinery -
TASS), we’re about to obtain permits. The deal will be closed in 2016,"
he said.
According to Sechin, the deal will enable Rosneft to get access to
the Indian market, building a safe bridge between the two countries.
In July 2015, Russia’s largest oil producer and shareholders of Essar
signed key terms of Rosneft’s participation in refinery in Vadinar
city, one of the biggest refineries of India and Asia-Pacific, with a
stake of up to 49%. Rosneft and Essar Oil also signed a long term
contract on oil supplies to India, which stipulated total supplies of
100 mln tonnes of crude oil over a period of ten years. Rosneft planned
to launch oil supplies to the refinery after entering its capital.
The refining capacity of the Vadinar refinery is 20 mln tonnes per
year. The partners plan to more than double the refinery’s capacity to
45 mln tonnes by 2020. Also, the deal includes marketing business
whereby Essar operate a retail chain of 1,600 stations located in India.
The plan is to increase the number of stations to 5,000 within the next
two year.
The Vadinar refinery is the second largest refinery in India and one
of the most complex refineries in world. It is highly flexible in terms
of raw materials use and is capable of refining heavy and ultra-heavy
oil. The refinery also has access to a deep-water port, capable of
accommodating VLCC tankers.
(ITAR-TASS)