MRPL to meet Euro IV norms

The Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) proposes to be the first refinery in the country to meet Euro IV standards. It plans to invest Rs 200 crore in technology upto 2007 to meet the standards, said Subir Raha, chairman, ONGC, here on Monday.

Speaking to reporters after the annual general meeting of the company at MRPL premises, he said ONGC proposes to invest Rs 90 crore to set up a plant to manufacture big xylenes which would give an additional value of 30 cents a barrel.

"We are also investing Rs 300 crore in Euro III facilities, primarily for upgrading gasoline quality by the end of next year," he said.

On the power project to be set up here, he said there are two streams of inputs "" LNG and naptha. On LNG, discussions are on while on naptha, which is produced at MRPL, the value-addition is being worked upon, he added. ONGC hoped to complete the techno-economic feasibility report soon, he added.

He also revealed that MRPL is working on a parallel pipeline system to ensure sustained control on the effluents. The refinery has secured both ISO 9001 for quality and ISO 14001 for being environment-friendly, he pointed out.

The company has received licence for marketing transport fuels through 500 retail outlets.