Rosneft-owned Essar Oil to be renamed Nayara Energy; to create new brands, identity

Essar Oil Ltd (EOL) wants to change its corporate identity as it enters a new phase after the acquisition by Russian giant Rosneft-led consortium in August 2017. The company is seeking approval to change its name to Nayara Energy Ltd, a term coined by combining Hindi word Naya (new) and Era. Rosneft and commodity trading and logistics company Trafigura and Russia's UCP Investment Group had bought Essar Oil for $12.9 billion as part of its ambitious plan to tap the growing energy market in India. Rosneft has 49.13 per cent stake in the company, while Trafigura and UCP control the rest 49.13 per cent stake.

The company has cited its plans to create new brands and the change of guard as reasons behind changing the identity. "Essar Oil Ltd (EOL) is seeking approval to change its corporate identity to Nayara Energy Ltd. The new corporate identity for EOL is in line with the company's strategy to create a new brand and identity, reflecting the new ownership and its ethos," the company said in a statement.

The new company has been planning to expand the capacity of its refinery in Vadinar, Gujarat, which is India's second largest single site refinery. It has a capacity of 20 million tonnes a year. Also, it aims to increase the company presence by expanding the petrol pump network from 4,473 to 6,000 outlets. The company has over 2,600 outlets at various stages of completion.

Essar Oil said the new identity "will enable positioning the company to compete and succeed in the new era and meet customer needs in the fastest growing energy market in the world."

The new name will be rolled out once EOL receives all the mandatory approvals. Until then, the company will use the existing corporate name, Essar Oil Ltd.

Company CEO B Anand, in his message to the company employees, said Nayara "signifies the company's vision to succeed in a new era in the energy sector". "With the backing of our new shareholders, we are confident of steering the company to a new era, while delivering world-class products and services to meet customer needs, across our value chain," he stated, reported PTI.

The Essar Oil board comprises 12 members headed by chairman and non-executive director Tony Fountain. He was the chief executive for refining and marketing at Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd from January 2012 to February 2016. He had also worked with British oil major BP in the past.

Before him, Lalit Gupta was CEO of the company but now he serves as the senior advisor to its board. Present CEO B Anand had earlier worked with Trafigura India, Future Group, and Vedanta Resources.