Cornelia Wolber, a spokeswoman for Shell, confirmed, “Negotiations continue with Essar only. Talks with other interested parties have ended.”
The move, would pave a way for the Mumbai-based conglomerate for becoming the largest overseas refiner of India. The proposed refineries would include one in the UK and two in Germany, having a total production capacity of about 26 million tonnes per annum.
Essar Oil spokesperson said, “Essar has entered into an exclusive negotiation with Shell for buying Shell’s Refinery at Stanlow in UK and Heide and Harburg in Germany.”
Shell reportedly demanded up to £1.5 billion for the three refineries while Essar has agreed to offer £1.2 billion. Essar is in the process of arranging finance to fund the project by holding discussions with UBS, Citigroup and JPMorgan.
The India based group, having production capacity of 10.5 million tones, is planning to increase its production capacity to 34 million tonnes in coming year.
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