MRPL ramps up refining capacity to 15 mn tons

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd today (MRPL) said it has completed expansion of its refinery to 15 million tons, raising India's refining capacity to 216 million tons.

MRPL, a subsidiary of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), in a press statement said nameplate capacity of the refinery has gone up to 15 million tons per annum from 11.82 million tons.

Yesterday, Essar Oil had announced completion of its Vadinar refinery capacity expansion to 18 million tons from 14 million tons.

Also, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd, a joint venture of state- owned Hindustan Petroleum and steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, commissioned $4 billion, 9 million tons refinery at Bathinda in Punjab.

The announcements come just a day before the 7-year income tax holiday for the refineries sector ends. A tax holiday is currently available to units that are commissioned by March 31, 2012, under section 80IB(9) of the Income Tax Act (exemption from payment of tax on income earned from refining).

The Oil Ministry had asked for a two-year extension of the tax holiday for refineries but Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee did not oblige.

The commissioning of these refineries has raised total oil refining capacity in the country to 216.066 million tons per annum from 198.886 million tons a year.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) continues to be the largest refiner with 54.2 million tons of refining capacity. It also is a majority stake holder in Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd, which operates two refineries of 11.50 million tons capacity.

Reliance Industries operates twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat with a total capacity of 62 million tons.

"With the commissioning of crude and vacuum distillation unit-III on March 29, production goes on stream from the Phase-III refinery expansion-cum-upgradation project of MRPL," the company statement said.

IOC is building a 15 million tons unit at Paradip in Orissa while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), which operates refineries a 6.5 million tons refinery at Mumbai and another 8.30 million tons unit at Visakhapatnam, is planning to build a 9 million tons unit on the coast of Maharashtra.

Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) had last year commissioned a 6 million tons unit at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. It plans to raise its Kochi refinery capacity to 15.5 million tons from current 9.5 million tons, at a cost of Rs 14,225 crore.

Essar Oil plans to further expand its Vadinar unit to 20 million tons by September this year.