India's second largest private oil refiner, Essar Oil, on Tuesday announced a net profit of Rs.32 crore year-on-year in the December quarter from Rs.362 crore loss during the same period a year ago.
The profit was mainly due to higher refining margin and larger processing of ultra heavy crude oil.
The company said that it has received the reserve bank approval to raise $2.2 billion foreign currency loans to refinance expensive rupee debt.
"We plan to raise around $ 2.2 billion in external commercial borrowings (ECB) shortly to refinance part of rupee loans totaling Rs.17,700 crore," company's CFO Suresh Jain said. "We are in discussion with banks," he said refusing to say when the company plans to raise the ECBs.
The foreign currency debt would help the company save $140-150 million, he said.
The company's refining margins improved as Essar's 20 mtpa Vadinar refinery in Gujarat earned $9.8 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the third quarter as against a gross refining margin of $2.82 per barrel in the same period a year ago.
Sales were up 86% to Rs.25,909 crore and in the first nine months the company has clocked a revenue of Rs.71,040 crore.