Mangalore Refinery posts Rs 720 crore profit in Q1

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) has posted a profit after tax of Rs 720 crore at the end of the first quarter of the financial year 2016-17 compared with Rs 405 crore in the same period in the period in the last fiscal.

Announcing this to media on Saturday following the board meeting, MRPL Chairman D K Sarraf said the profit before tax for the first quarter is Rs 1,137 crore  compared with Rs 509 crore recorded during the same period in the previous fiscal.

“For the first time in a decade, gross refinery margin (GRM) has reached double digit at $10.01  per barrel against $6.62 per barrel during the corresponding period of previous fiscal,” he said.

On convergence of refinery from BS-IV to BS-VI to meet the norms by the year 2020, Sarraf said by September 2019  the work is expected to be completed with the MRPL fully geared up with Rs 1,810 crore project, pending approval from the board of ONGC.

 The requirements have been already met in the case of HSD to enable production of BS-VI of the same. The total compliance is expected by March 2017.

Expansion of refinery

There are also plans to expand the existing refinery capacity to either 18 million tonnes or 21 million tonnes or beyond. The deliberations are on in this regard.

ATF on domestic front

Director (Refinery) MRPL M Venkatesh said ‘Among 12 small projects on the anvil, it has been decided to promote aviation turbo fuel (ATF) on domestic front rather than exporting the same, like in the existing scenario. Adding to this MD H Kumar said, ‘MRPL in a joint venture has been already exporting ATF in a significant manner’.