Talithaya also said MRPL has arranged for the funding of Rs 231 crore to the New Mangalore Port for putting up a jetty which can take crude tanks of 1,00,000 tonne capacity.
MRPL was formed under a tripartite memorandum of understanding entered into between the Government of India, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and the Aditya Birla group of companies in 1987 with the objective of setting up a 6 mmtpa refinery with naphtha cracker in Mangalore in Karnataka. Both promoters of MRPL hold equal stake.
Subsequently, the naphtha cracker project was dropped from the project and clearance for a 3 mmtpa refinery was given by Public Investment Board (PIB) in 1991 and the project approved with a debt equity ratio of 4:1.
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The refinery was commissioned in March 1996, three months ahead of schedule. In the context of the deregulation of the petroleum sector it became unviable to run a 3 mmtpa refinery. MRPL therefore planned to increase its capacity and the PIB clearance for the same came in November 1996. The project was completed in September 1999, two months ahead of schedule.
Talithaya said that production is in full swing and the recent doubts of fishermen that fish production has been affected by the delinking of pipeline are baseless.
The College of Fisheries had conducted a study of the effluents after being treated at MRPL itself and found that it did not contain any intoxicants.
Karanusagar I, head of the department of microbiology, College of Fisheries, also affirmed the same and said production is going on as usual.
The New Mangalore port jetty is dedicated to the use of MRPL which is servicing the investment by way of return to the port. The jetty has got sophisticated loading arms to dispatch the products out and to take the crude into the refinery.
The port is connected through pipelines to the plant to a distance of about 10 km. To meet the needs of the extended capacity from 3 mmtpa to 9 mmtpa, the company is putting up another similar jetty which is expected to be ready by March 2001.
In the meantime, to cater to the extend capacity, a virtual jetty has been installed which can dispatch about 30,000 tonne with a capacity of 3 mmtpa products per annum. The investments anticipated in the construction of the new jetty is about Rs 180 crore.