Essar Oil UK Ltd. (EOUK), a subsidiary of Essar Energy Transition (EET), has secured $150 million in financing from Hamburg Commercial Bank AG and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. for working capital and general expenses. The financing will help EOUK strengthen its customer relationships, increase its sales volumes and optimize its longer term financing strategy.

EOUK operates the Stanlow refinery in the UK, which is part of a $1.2 billion investment by EET to transform it into the country’s first low-carbon refinery. EET is a holding company of Essar Global Fund Ltd. (EGFL), a family investor based in Mumbai, that aims to drive the creation of the UK’s leading energy transition hub in North West England. EET plans to invest $3.6 billion over the next five years in the development of low-carbon energy projects in the UK and India, including biofuels, blue hydrogen and green ammonia.

EOUK chief executive Deepak Maheswari said that managing effective content supply chains and securing competitive financing is critical to EOUK’s ambition to become the UK’s first low-carbon refinery. EOUK chief financial officer Satish Vasooja said that the financing is a sign of the confidence the banking community has in EOUK and its long-term financial performance.

EGFL, which has become debt-free in India after selling its ports and power assets for $2.05 billion, said that it is now reinvesting in its existing operations and in building new assets with more efficient and carbon neutral technologies, both in India and overseas. EGFL’s main project in the UK, through EOUK, is the HyNet North West hydrogen production and carbon capture and storage industrial complex, which will help EGFL achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2040.