Mumbai:  Essar Oil Ltd., India’s leading private sector refiner, today said it has received approval for exit of  Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) loan facility set up in December 2004 which facilitated the construction of its refinery in Gujarat. The CDR facility will be replaced with a new debt facility of about Rs. 9400 crore on mutually acceptable commercial terms from similar group of lenders.

Lalit Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Essar Oil, said: “The exit marks a significant step forward for the company.  We are pleased to have built an excellent working relationship with our lenders and the new loan facility, along with the recently completed expansion of the refinery, paves the way to move positively into a new phase of growth.”

“The exit will assist in the company enjoying greater operational and financial flexibility. We are thankful to all our Lenders who have stood by the Company since inception and supported us during all these years,” said Suresh Jain, Chief Financial Officer, Essar Oil.

The refinery, which commenced commercial production in May 2008 with a capacity of 10.5 million metric tonnes per year (220,000 barrels per day) and complexity of 6.1, has been significantly upgraded in recent months and now has a capacity of 20 mmtpa, or 405,000 bpd and complexity of 11.8. This makes the fully integrated Vadinar Refinery India’s second largest single location refinery and amongst the top five in complexity globally. With increased complexity, Essar Oil is able to take over 80% of ultra heavy and heavy crude in its crude diet and yet produce higher grade products like Euro IV and Euro V compliant Gasoline and Gasoil to cater to the domestic and international markets.