Essar Oil receives approval to exit CDR loan facility

Mumbai: Essar Oil, the private sector refiner, Thursday said it has received approval for exit of Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) loan facility, which was set up in December 2004.

The CDR facility will now be replaced with a new debt facility of about Rs 9,400 crore, it said.

"We have received approval for exit of Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) loan facility set up in December 2004 which facilitated the construction of our refinery in Gujarat. The CDR facility will be replaced with a new debt facility of about Rs 9,400 crore on mutually acceptable commercial terms from similar group of lenders," the company said.

It also said that the exit from CDR would create a new phase of growth for the company.

"The exit marks a significant step forward....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," Chief Executive Officer Lalit Gupta said.

The company also said that exit would assist in the company enjoying greater operational and financial flexibility.

According to the oil firm, the Gujarat refinery, which started production in May 2008 with the capacity of 10.5 million metric tonnes per year, has been upgraded to 20 million metric tonnes per annum.

Essar Oil has a global portfolio of onshore and offshore oil and gas blocks, with about 2.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent in reserves and resources and 405,000 barrels per stream-day of crude refining capacity.

PTI