The Chairman of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Subhash Kumar, has said that the process of the merger of MRPL with HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd) will take as much time as required by law.

Replying to a shareholder query on the delay in the merger of MRPL with HPCL at the 33rd annual general meeting of MRPL on Saturday, he said the merger plan is definitely there.

MRPL is a subsidiary of ONGC. He said HPCL also happens to be one of the promoters of MRPL. All the three companies – HPCL, MRPL and ONGC -- are listed entities, and all the processes will have to go through as per the legal requirement.

Stating that merger of OMPL (ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd) with MRPL itself is taking time, he said there are certain timelines defined as per the process. The team is working to make it happen at the earliest.

On the benefits from the merger of OMPL with MRPL, he said the entire refinery complex can function on an integrated basis with this merger, and there there will not be any inefficiencies within the group.

Timelines

On the timelines for the merger of MRPL with HPCL, he said the process will take as much time as required by the law.

Stating that the full-scale merger will help improve value realisation, he said first it will happen through the merger of OMPL with MRPL.

To a query by a shareholder on the need for expanding the retail outlet network of MRPL when it is going to merge with HPCL, M Venkatesh, Managing Director of MRPL, said retail outlet will be a value addition to both MRPL and HPCL rather than competition. “We are ensuring that retail outlets will only add value to HPCL, if and when the merger takes place at the right time,” he said.

Subhash Kumar said that MRPL has opened 27 retail outlets in Karnataka and Kerala till now. The plan is to take the total number of retail outlets to 40 during this fiscal, he said.

When a shareholder suggested that MRPL should have focussed on transporting water by road or rail to meet its requirements rather than setting up a sea water desalination plant in Mangaluru, Venkatesh said refining sector is water intensive and it is practically impossible to transport the kind of water required by road or rail.

Stating that the dependence on rainwater is not a good strategy, he said: “We have embarked upon the desalination plant to de-risk one of the main components for MRPL. We will optimise the water consumption from desalination plant to reduce the operating cost.”

Subhash Kumar said that MRPL is planning to commission the sea water desalination plant during September 2021.

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