Mangaluru, June 26: The first parcel of ‘Mangpol’, polypropylene pearls produced at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) was inaugurated by Prahlad Joshi, chairman of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas on Thursday, June 25th.
Addressing the media after the inauguration ceremony, Prahlad Joshi said, the polypropylene pearls weighing 500 tonnes and worth Rs 4 crores, are sent to Petro-tech Products Company in Bengaluru.
This was the first parcel of polypropylene pearls dispatched from MRPL, which are used in manufacture of plastic and manufacture of house-old items. In south India, MRPL is the first oil company to produce these polypropylene pearls, he said.
In 2006, the demand for these pearls was 15.3 lakh metric tonnes while in 2014-2015 it has exceeded 30.7 lakh metric tonnes. It was possible to meet only 14% of the demand internally, he said.
Oil companies such as ONGC and MRPL work towards achieving the “Make In India” vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Measures are going on to increase the crude oil production in the country in order to control the import, said Joshi.
To import fuel, maximum of central budget is being spent. Nearly 70% of the crude oil demand of the country is imported from abroad and only 30% of the crude oil is produced in the country. Last time, 118 million metric tonnes of oil was imported and only 38 million metric tonnes was produced in the country. By the year 2020, based on the population, there are plans to cut off 10% of the dependency and reduce 50% dependency by 2050, informed Joshi.
The works of the oil collection units in Padur (Udupi) and Permude (Mangaluru) are almost completed and the pipeline connection works are in progress. Due to some technical problems, there was a delay. By December, the pipeline works are expected to get over and the units are expected to function, informed Prahlad Joshi answering the query of a reporter.
H Kumar, Managing Director of MRPL said, in the country, nine distributor companies of polypropylene are identified, he said. All up-gradation measures will be undertaken to increase the production in future to meet the country’s demand, he said.
M Venkatesh, Director of MRPL and others were present.
Enormous demand for polypropylene:
By separating Naptha, polypropylene is produced which is in the form of minute pearls. This is a multipurpose product used in all kinds of plastic articles, welding and also used in automobile industry. There is a huge demand for polypropylene in the country and MRPL is the country’s biggest unit in polypropylene production.
