India’s MRPL to set up naphtha-based olefins unit

14 September 2007 17:57  [Source: ICIS news]

NEW DELHI (ICIS news)--India’s Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) announced on Friday that it would set up a new naphtha-based olefins and polyolefins complex at Mangalore in Karnataka.

The complex would have polyethylene capacity of 700,000 tonnes/year and polypropylene capacity of 700,000 tonnes/year. It would produce PP in the first phase and other polyolefins in subsequent phases.

The company said a detailed feasibility report on the project, which it expects to implement as a joint venture with MRPL’s parent company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), was under preparation.

MRPL said it was considering a new initiative to produce additional C3 at its Mangalore refinery.

MRPL also said it was in the “final stages” of selecting technology licensors for its proposed aromatics complex to be implemented by a joint venture named ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Limited, in which ONGC has 49%, MRPL has 3% and the balance is held by banks, financial institutions and strategic investors.

The complex would have paraxylene capacity of 920,000-1m tonnes/year and benzene capacity of 140,000 tonnes/year. Toyo Engineering India Limited is serving as project management consultant (PMC) to the complex, which is slated for commissioning by December 2010.

The aromatics complex would get naphtha from MRPL’s Mangalore refinery, which is being expanded to 15 million tonnes/year from 9.69 million tonnes/year.

The expanded refinery would produce 300,000 tonnes/year of propylene and 250,000 tonnes/year of lube oil base stock and 900,000 tonne/year of petroleum coke, apart from additional production of transportation fuels.

MRPL and ONGC chairman RS Sharma said the implementation of the refinery and petrochemical projects was getting delayed due to long delivery time in submitting design packages by technology licensors that were “heavily overbooked”.

By: Naresh Minocha
+65 6780 4359

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