Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) on Saturday received 60,000 tonnes of KG 98/2 crude oil from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s deep water oil exploration block in Krishna Godavari basin, off the Bay of Bengal region. This is the first consignment of crude oil from the ONGC’s block that the MRPL will be processing.
The Swarna Sindhu vessel that brought the first consignment of 60,000 tonnes of crude oil from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s deep water oil exploration block in Krishna Godavari basin to the New Mangalore Port on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Talking to reporters in Mangaluru on Saturday, MRPL Director (Refinery) Sanjay Varma said 60,000 tonnes of crude oil are the first cargo from the parent firm ONGC’s KG-DWN block and it has arrived at the New Mangalore Port through ‘Swarna Sindhu’ vessel.
“We are the first refinery in the country to process the indigenous crude oil from the block, which was identified with an investment of ₹30,000 crore by ONGC in deep sea and ultra deep sea explorations in order to make the country self reliant in terms of fuel production. It’s an honour for MRPL, which has the skill set and hardware to process a variety to crude oil including that from the East coast” Mr. Varma said.
The MRPL, he said, has processed over 250 varieties of crude oil imported from abroad and from oil exploration blocks in India namely from Mumbai High and Rajasthan. Characteristics of the crude oil changes with the region from where it is explored. Crude oil from India are largely low on sulphur, he said.
Mr. Varma said the MRPL uses a linear programme to select the crude oil, which can be processed. This programme analyses the crude oil to give a broadd picture of petroleum products that will come out and the cost likely to be incurred for it. “We are processing the crude oil that shores up our revenue,” he said.
Managing Director Mundkur Shyamprasad Kamath said KG 98/2 crude oil, which is low sulphur and medium viscous oil, will be first analysed to find impurities. It will be mixed with available crude oil and processed. “Our team will be addressing issues in processing this oil. Once this stabilises, we will be processing KG 98/2 oil in the neat form,” Mr. Kamath said.
Published - March 09, 2024 07:59 pm IST
