MRPL to shut 120,000 bpd crude unit in April

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) plans to shut a 120,000 barrel per day crude distillation unit (CDU) for about 10 days from early April for planned maintenance, its head of refinery operations said on Friday.

MRPL, a subsidiary of state-run exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp , runs a coastal refinery in Karnataka with a capacity of 300,000 bpd.

The refiner also plans to shut a 1.6 million tonne a year hydrocracker at the refinery that produces middle distillates such as diesel for minor work, Vijay G. Joshi told Reuters.

The refiner has three CDUs and two hydrocrackers.

"We will use the opportunity to do some minor jobs on the hydrocracker ... Also, some job needs to be done at our captive power plant," he said.

MRPL's product supply commitments would not be affected by the shutdown, Joshi added.

Joshi said MRPL also plans to shut its second hydrocrakcer of 1.2 million tonnes a year in the October-December quarter for catalyst replacement. A catalyst change typically takes 30-45 days.