Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.
MRPL to make calibrated investments in petrochemicals
August 02, 2023
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has said it would make calibrated investments in petrochemicals to embrace long-term changes. In its annual report for 2022-23, the company said this will shore up the revenues in the future during the period of declining returns from fossil fuels.
An integrated refinery with 25-30 per cent petrochemical intensity would require an investment of two-to-three times that of a conventional refinery. Mentioning that the present petrochemical intensity of MRPL is 10 per cent, the annual report said the company would make calibrated investments in petrochemicals to embrace long-term changes, while continuing to ensure relevance and viability of its existing assets. The expected gains of such an integration would be from feed stock availability, lower capital cost, lower operating cost, and the advantage of domestic market where significant growth is projected. “
For petrochemicals, MRPL will optimally time its investment to decouple from past and infuse capital in future. This will free it from the pressures of new situations and consequent risks of lower capacity utilisation and margin reduction that can impact cash flow,” the annual report said. The investment yardsticks would include repurposing existing units, addition of on-purpose units, greenfield petrochemical pathway, and sustainable imperatives, it said.
Annual report mentioned that the present petrochemical consumption of India is about one-third of the global average. As of now, around 50 per cent of the products of MRPL are for the road transportation sector. It said that this poses a challenge for the company. Lower demand means less need for refining to produce fossil fuels. There is a risk of contraction in profit margins when refinery capacity utilisation falls.
In contrast, demand for petrochemical feedstocks will continue to grow. The major oil-derived petrochemical feedstocks are ethane, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), and naphtha. These are primarily used in the production of polymers for plastics, synthetic fibres, and other petrochemical intermediates. Demand for these products will continue to grow with rising wealth, it said. However, India is expected to remain a bright spot for fossil fuels into the next decade. This will enable MRPL to generate capital for the next phase of investment.
The report said refineries cannot be reluctant to invest in infrastructure for the changing times,
adding, MRPL intends to be an integrated refinery of the future by capital deployment in new
pathways.
Referring to the emerging trends in biofuels and green hydrogen, the annual report said these are
early times and their costs are high. “However, the company cannot afford to ignore these
developments. The transition to the future by the company will include efforts in clean energy,
carbon footprint reduction, sustainable initiatives and effective deployment of capital resources,”
it said. It also said MRPL is dependent on oil marketing companies for much of its domestic sales.
There are plans to have 1,000 retail outlets of its own in five years, the report added.
MRPL becomes largest single location refinery in India.
July 26, 2023
The Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), a mini-Ratna CPSE PSU refinery based in coastal Karnataka and a subsidiary of ONGC, has become the single largest PSU-refinery (single location) in the country for the year 2022-23, a release from the company said here Wednesday. MRPL achieved this feat by processing 17.14 million metric tonnes of crude oil during the past financial year. This is also the highest-ever throughput processed by any single-location PSU refinery in India's petroleum refining history, the release said. MRPL processes 10 per cent of the total crude oil refined by the PSU petroleum refineries in the country.
Set up as a joint venture refinery in 1988 with a 3.69 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) capacity, MRPL later underwent a second and third-phase expansion to raise its capacity to 15 MMTPA. The refinery configuration has a Nelson Complexity Index of 11.3, one of the highly complex PSU refineries. The MRPL petrochemical intensity is currently at 9.5 per cent, aiming to reach 15 per cent in the medium term. The Nelson Complexity Index (NCI) refers to the types of petroleum products can be produced by a refinery.
Measured on a scale from 1 to 20, the higher the value on the NCI, the more sophisticated and complex products the refinery can produce. As for petrochemical intensity, it refers to the percentage of crude oil converted directly into chemicals used to make plastic and other materials. MRPL can process more than 250 different types of crude from around the world. Crudes from the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, Russia, Africa, South America and the US are the major ones processed in the MRPL.
MRPL is capable of producing almost a full range of petroleum products
like naphtha, LPG, motor spirit, high-speed diesel, kerosene, aviation, turbine fuel, sulphur,
xylene, bitumen, along with pet coke and polypropylene. In recent times, the MRPL has taken
significant steps to build its petrochemical profile.
Its 440 KTA Novolen gas-phase polypropylene plant can produce a complete range of
homopolymer grades. Its aromatic complex can produce 0.905 MMTPA of para xylene and 0.273
MMTPA of benzene. The aromatic complex is in the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ)
and fully integrated with the MRPL. The MRPL has ambitious plans for the retail business and it
has initiated steps to expand its coveted RO brand HiQ in 1000 locations in South India in the
near future, the release said. MRPL Managing Director Sanjay Varma said the company has made
a strong bounce back after effectively countering the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic.
MRPL shelves refinery growth to focus on chemicals bet
June 07, 2023
India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. shelved a planned refinery expansion to focus on boosting its petrochemical production capacity, which may cost as much as Rs. 47,000 crores ($5.7 billion). "A shifting energy landscape primarily driven by the uptake of electric vehicles has prompted MRPL to focus its efforts on increasing output of chemicals that can be used for plastics and paints," Sanjay Varma, managing director, said in an interview.
"The company’s major investment will be in a new production plant in Karnataka," he said. Indian and Chinese refiners along with majors such as Exxon Mobil Corp. are betting on petrochemicals to underpin future oil demand as the transition to electric vehicles chips away at consumption of transport fuels. The new MRPL plant is likely to be operational in the next three to five years," said Varma. "India is a net-importer of petrochemicals and the country is facing a “make-or-buy” decision," said Larry Tan, vice president of chemical consulting in Asia at S&P Global Commodity Insights in Singapore. “There is better value to capture production locally.”
MRPL — majority owned by
state-controlled Oil and Natural Gas Corp. — plans to spend around 300-400 billion rupees on
the new plant, and a further 60-70 billion rupees on smaller petrochemical units, Varma said.
"The investment will help “de-risk MRPL’s future” during the energy transition," he added.
"The investment will contribute to ONGC’s overall spend of 1 trillion rupees to expand its
petrochemical capacity to 8 million tons a year by 2030, from 3.4 million tons," according to a
spokesman for ONGC.
While MRPL shelved plans to boost the capacity of its refinery on the west coast to 18 million
tons a year from 15 million tons, the plant is still running above operational levels, said Varma.
The refinery operated at a record average of 17.1 million tons a year over the 12 months ended.
India’s MRPL to raise Rs50bn to beef up cash flow, working capital Priya Jestin
September 21, 2020
MRPL is currently in the process of expanding its refining capacity from 15m tonnes/year to 18m tonnes/year. “We are finally aiming to increase capacity to 25m tonnes/year,” the company source said
MRPL posts Q3 loss of ₹36.64 cr
February 03, 2020
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) registered a loss of ₹36.64 crore during the third quarter of 2019-20 as against a loss of ₹267.72 crore in the corresponding period of 2018-19...
2G ethanol plant to be commissioned in Davangere dist
December 19, 2019
The Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) is in the process of setting up South India’s only 2G ethanol plant at Hanagawadi in Davanagere district....
MRPL makes first export shipment of BS-VI-grade diesel
November 19, 2019
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has made the first export shipment of BS-VI grade diesel.
MRPL loss jumps to Rs 574.45-crore in Q2
November 05, 2019
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) registered a loss of ₹574.45 crore in the second quarter of 2019-20, as against a loss of ₹81.16 crore in the corresponding period of 2018-19
Pomila Jaspal is Director (Finance) of MRPL
October 15, 2019
Pomila Jaspal has been appointed as Director (Finance) of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) with immediate effect.
HPCL-MRPL merger plan yet to reach board level: HPCL chief
October 03, 2019
HPCL's proposed plan to acquire the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Led (MRPL) for synergy is yet to reach board level discussions, its CMD MK Surana said on Thursday.