India’s MRPL sets its sights on petchem expansion

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) is looking to expand its petrochemical business by erecting a petrochemical plant on India’s west coast with the expansion talks making headway, according to general manager M. Venkatesh.

The motive of the expansion is to diversify the portfolio of the company by having a wide range of products as India is gradually leaning into an electric-centric automobile market with electric vehicles expected to make up 30% of the country’s automotive sales by 2030. 

“We have hydrocrackers, and it is imperative to make necessary investments in order for our hydrocrackers to handle an array of feedstock”, MRPL’s director of refinery, Sanjay Verma said. 

At the time of this report, the finer detail regarding the new capacity is yet to be disclosed but MRPL currently produces about 440,000 tons/year of polypropylene (PP) along with 900,000 tons/year of paraxylene (PX) at the Mangalore refinery. 

Despite MRPL’s efforts to expand its petrochemical capacity, there is no refinery expansion planned as of now, added Venkatesh.