RPT-UPDATE 2-Essar Energy plunges after Indian court ruling

(Repeats story issued late on Tuesday)

* Court says firm can no longer benefit from tax deferral scheme

* Company has benefited from deferred sales tax of $1.24 bln

* Spokesman says company needs to clarify how much tax to be paid back and when

* Shares close down 26 pct

By Sarah Young

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A court ruling against London-listed Essar Energy's India-focused oil refiner wiped off over a quarter of the company's share market value on Tuesday.

Essar Energy said that the ruling by India's Supreme Court means Essar Oil, the India-listed business in which Essar Energy owns a 87 percent stake, will no longer be able to defer payment of a sales tax, having hitherto benefited from deferrals of $1.24 billion.

Shares in Essar Energy plunged as much as 38 percent before paring earlier losses to close down 26 percent at 127 pence, their lowest level ever, and meaning $5.95 billion has been wiped off the company's value since it floated under two years ago.

"This benefit they were getting, which is reasonably considerable, they're not going to get going forward. That's going to hit their financials," said an analyst who declined to be named.

He added that the shares were also hurt by the uncertainty as to when the company would now have to pay back the sales tax it owes. Under the previous deal, the sales tax had been repayable from 2021 onwards.

"We need to clarify how much and when we might need to pay back and how payments might be made," an Essar Energy spokesman told Reuters.

The company said in its statement that it would provide further information on the matter after studying the Supreme Court's judgement.

Essar Energy also needs to clarify whether it has the right to appeal against the judgment, added the spokesman.

The company, whose listing in mid-2010 was trumpeted as London's largest market debut since 2007, is now likely to slip out of Britain's FTSE 100 index at the next reshuffle.

Its share price has also been hurt by a series of delays to power projects and a fraud charge against its chairman.

At a closing price of 127 pence, Essar has a market capitalisation of 1.66 billion pounds ($2.55 billion).

The latest ruling invalidates a judgment made by the Gujarat High Court in 2008, the state where Essar Oil's Vladinar refinery is located, which ruled in favour of the company being permitted to pay the sales tax in deferred instalments.

Essar Energy, which has a presence in the UK after buying Royal Dutch Shell's Stanlow refinery in 2011, is 77 percent-owned by privately-held Indian conglomerate Essar Group which has interests spanning energy, telecoms, steel and shipping. ($1=0.6513 British pounds) (Editing by Greg Mahlich)