Essar Oil Ltd. (ESOIL), operator of India’s second-biggest non-state refinery, reported a profit in the first-quarter after earnings from processing crude oil rose. Net income in the three months ended June 30 was 4.69 billion rupees ($105 million), compared with a 700 million rupee loss a year earlier, the Mumbai-based company said in an e- mailed statement today. Essar Oil plans to increase the capacity of its refinery in Gujarat state to 18 million tons a year from 14 million tons and further to 20 million tons by September next year, the company said Nov. 10. The expansion will allow it to process heavier and cheaper grades of crude oil, improving margins. The refinery at Vadinar will be shut down for 35 days starting Sept. 18 to integrate new units, according to today’s statement. The company earned $7.38 on every barrel of crude turned into fuels in the quarter, compared with $5.79 a barrel a year earlier, according to today’s statement. Essar Oil fell 0.9 percent to 127.60 rupees at the close in Mumbai, before the earnings announcement. The stock has dropped 7.4 percent this year. The benchmark Sensitive Index declined 8.7 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

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