Production has gone on stream from phase-III expansion of MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd).
Mr P.P. Upadhya, Director (Technical) of MRPL, told Business Line that the nameplate capacity of the refinery has gone up from 11.82 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) to 15 mtpa with this expansion.
A company release said here that with the commissioning of crude and vacuum distillation unit–III (CDU/VDU-III) on Friday, production has gone on stream on the phase-III refinery expansion-cum-upgradation project of MRPL.
Investment
Mr Upadhya said that the company launched this project in August 2008, and it was completed according to schedule. Asked about the investment in this phase-III expansion, he said around Rs 12,000 crore has been invested for this.
At the time of the launch of this project, the company had stated that the objective of the project was to expand its refining capacity to 15 mtpa (from the then 9.69 mtpa), and to increase the distillate yield by minimising black oil production and to upgrade entire diesel to Euro III / Euro IV grade.
It had said that the project would also enable MRPL to process cheap and highly acidic crude thereby improving the overall economics.
In February 2008, MRPL had increased the nameplate capacity of its refinery from the then 9.69 mtpa to 11.82 mtpa. This followed the successful utilisation of design materials available in the units over a period of four years, it had said then.
Though the nameplate capacity of MRPL was 11.82 mtpa, the total throughput at the refinery was 12.64 million tonnes during 2010-11.
Engineers India Ltd was the project management consultants for the phase-III refinery project.
On Friday, the scrip of MRPL closed at Rs 67.90, up 11.68 per cent against the previous closing of Rs 60.80.