An investment consortium of Trafigura, private investment group United Capital Partners (UCP) and Essar have signed a sale and purchase agreement for a 49 percent stake in Mumbai-based Essar Oil Limited (EOL) from Essar Energy Holdings Limited.
EOL owns India’s second largest private refinery along with storage and import/export facilities located near Vadinar city, as well as a domestic retail network business consisting of over 2,700 retail stations.
The 20Mtpa super-refinery, with a Nelson complexity index of 11.8, is located on strategic shipping routes to demand centres in the Far East and close to Middle East sources of production, and within one of the world’s most important sources of growth in energy demand.
Jeremy Weir, CEO of Trafigura, commented: “This is an important and exciting investment for Trafigura with broad commercial benefits. Essar Oil occupies a strategic position in the global oil market. It owns world-class refining and infrastructure assets that will create multiple synergies with our trading business. Investing in Essar Oil also offers us a platform to extend our exposure to the growing domestic market in India.”

2nd November 2016