Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has signed a 4-year product supply agreement, extendable by another two years, with Shell India Marketing Private Ltd. According to a press release, the products include all grades of MS and HSD.

MRPL Managing Director R Rajamani and Shell India Managing Director Surinderdeep Singh signed the agreement in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of MRPL Chairman R S Sharma and Chairman of Shell Group of Companies in India Vikram Singh Mehta.

Speaking on the occasion, MRPL Chairman R S Sharma said this agreement reinforces the association between these two companies and conforms to the business philosophy of ONGC group of companies to align with the best companies in the world.

Besides the commercial aspects of the agreement, MRPL will stand to gain from the rich experience of Shell in product handling and distribution and set international benchmarks in performance.

The new agreement which will become operational from October 2007 covers not only fuel supply but also infrastructure sharing and hospitality and collaboration on health, security, safety and environmental management procedures & practices.

The other senior functionaries present on the occasion were MRPL Director (Finance) L K Gupta, AVP (Marketing) Vanita Kumar, Director (Human Resources) Dr A K Balyan, Director (Offshore) N K Mitra, Director (Exploration) D K Pande and Director (Technical & Field Services) U N Bose from ONGC, Vice President (Supply) of Shell Eastern Petroleum Limited in Singapore Cesar Romero, General Manager of Shell International Petroleum Company Limited in London Wael Sawan and others.

Shell India is presently uplifting almost all of their fuel requirements from MRPL since 2004 under a product supply pact valid till October 2007.