Adequate crude stocks are currently available at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and refinery operations remain stable, ANI reported citing government sources, dismissing claims that units at the facility had been shut due to oil shortages.
“News of the MRPL refinery shutdown is incorrect. MRPL Refinery is very well stocked, have adequate stock. All the LPG refineries are directed to increase production of LPG. We are in a comfortable position with our LPG stock. We will use our Petchem for domestic use to ease the consumption demand,” government sources told ANI.
The clarification follows earlier claims that the 300,000-barrel-per-day MRPL refinery in Karnataka had shut a crude processing unit because of difficulties in securing crude supplies.
In earlier reports suggested that a 100,000-barrel-per-day crude unit and some secondary units, including a hydrocracker, had been shut from Wednesday evening at the refinery complex.
Those reports had linked the shutdown to tightening crude availability as Asian refiners struggled to secure prompt replacement cargoes. The strain had been attributed to concerns over shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil corridor through which roughly a fifth of the world’s crude supply passes.
