The Hindu - with Daijiworld pic by Praveen Tauro Kulshekar

MANGALORE, Sep 17: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited will bring in the first batch of crude cargo from Sakhalin in Russia to India, through Mangalore in the second week of this November for processing at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), a subsidiary of ONGC, R.S. Sharma, chairman ONGC and MRPL, said here on Saturday.

Addressing presspersons after the 18th annual general body meeting of MRPL here, he said the crude cargo would be 90,000 tonne.

The cargo was likely to reach the New Mangalore Port either on the 14th or 15th of November, he said.

The ONGC holds equity in the largest oil-field at Sakhalin in Russia. It has invested $ 2.8 billion in this project. "The pilot production has begun at Sakhalin and commercial production will start soon," he said.

Mr. Sharma said he had urged the Union Petroleum Minister to request Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be present at Mangalore to receive the first batch of cargo.

On this occasion, the foundation stone for the MRPL's aromatic complex that comes under Mangalore Special Economic Zone Project, will be formally laid here.

LNG terminal

Mr. Sharma said the ONGC was committed to setting up its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Mangalore. The ONGC had got licence from the Government to set up 500 outlets in the country. It was going slow on setting up retail outlets for the company's own reasons, the chairman said.