M'lore: Historic Moment for MRPL - First Consignment of Rajasthan Crude Arrives
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network- Mangalore (RS/SP)
Mangalore, Oct 9: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) has reached to a milestone by receiving the first consignment of 29,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Cairn India Ltd, which has been exploring oil in Rajasthan in collaboration with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, for processing. The consignment reached New Mangalore port jetty on Friday, October 9.
The first crude oil consignment, titled 'Mangala Crude' from the Cairn oil Fields, was received in a historically important occasion by the deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, V Ponnuraj, in the presence of MRPL managing director UK Basu, Sushil Kumar Pillay, deputy general manager of operations and regional manger of Cairn India limited apart from the ship captain, Nadareishvili Revaz.
The ship, 'Cougar', loaded with black gold (crude oil),was offered a grand welcome as per the traditions of coastal Karnataka, with the blowing of the trumpets and 'Chande' beats, as well as the performance by the folk dance artistes from Rajastan and Dakshina Kannada.
Out of this crude, MRPL would be able to extract only 22 per cent of oil, while the rest 78% will be converted into bitumen. In the next financial year, MRPL would be able to produce 0.4 million tonnes of processed, pure oil. But the first crude oil consignment has the capacity to produce only 0.2 percent of pure oil, informed Laxmi Kumarn, deputy general manager (corporate communications), MRPL.