The Hindu

• It has been chosen for Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Award
• The award is based on the performance of PSU refineries in energy consumption
• This is for the third consecutive year that MRPL is being considered for it

Mangalore, Dec 6: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has chosen Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL), a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), for the first prize in the category-I, for "Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Award" for overall energy performance of refineries' for the year 2005-06, according to a MRPL release.

Murli Deora, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, will present the award to the company at the inaugural function of a seminar on "clean fuels" at Hotel Le Meridian, New Delhi, on December 13.

This is for the third consecutive year MRPL has been considered for the award. The award is based on the annual performance of the PSU refineries in the area of energy consumption measured in terms of specific energy consumption. The specific energy consumption is defined as the amount of energy consumed in a refinery per barrel of crude processed per unit energy factor and is defined as Mbtu/Bbl/NRGF. Mbtu stands for energy consumed in thousand Btu, Bbl for crude processed in barrel and NRGF for composite energy factor of the refinery.

Refining capacity

MRPL is planning to invest Rs. 7,943 crore to raise its refining capacity to 15 million tonnes by 2010, according to its managing director R. Rajamani.

"The increased refining capacity will give us an incremental gross margin of Rs. 1,907 crore per year ($ 3.5 per barrel) and a 16.34 per cent rate of return." Engineers India Limited has been appointed project management consultant, a press release by MRPL said.

Isomerisation unit

The refinery has completed an isomerisation unit that will help it produce Euro-IV grade petrol from next month. "MRPL was the first in the country to produce Euro-III products and now MRPL will be the first to launch Euro-IV grade fuels," he said.

The company was also constructing an aromatic complex at a cost of Rs. 4,852 crore over the next three years. Naphtha produced at MRPL, after expansion to 15 million tonnes a year from the present 9.69 million tonnes name plate capacity, would be the feedstock for producing petrochemical building blocks, Paraxylene and Benzene.

The project has been planned to give 17.11 per cent rate of return on investment. "Over 278 acres of land has already been acquired for the project and project management consultant will be selected by mid-January," he said.

R S Sharma, chairman, ONGC and MRPL, said MRPL also proposed to set up an Olefin complex, for which State-owned Engineers India Ltd., has been asked to prepare a detailed feasibility report.

The two projects are part of ONGC's over Rs. 35,000 crore investments in Mangalore Special Economic Zone (M-SEZ).