ONGC okays Rs 8,000cr capex on MRPL expansion

The board of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has approved a capital expenditure of Rs 8,000 crore for raising refining capacity of its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemcials (MRPL) to 15 MT per annum from current 9.69 MT.

"A capital expenditure of Rs 8,000 crore has been approved by the ONGC board in its meeting held at New Delhi on March 3 2006, clearing the integrated refinery upgradation project for its subsidiary MRPL," a company said in a press release.

Expected to be completed in three-and-a half years, this integrated refinery upgradation project will make MRPL one of the largest PSU refinery investments at a single location in the country.

"The refinery upgradation project, on commissioning, will significantly enhance value addition in the refinery product slate. The distillate yield will improve significantly, minimising the bottoms where the realisation is lower," it said.

The project envisages production of high value products like Propylene, Euro-III / Euro-IV compliant gasoline and diesel, which are in good demand in international markets. The estimated production of propylene from the upgraded refinery complex will be 300,000 tonnes per annum (TPA).