The Hindu Business Line : MRPL to register net profit by next fiscal

MANGALORE Refineries & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) will register cash profits for the current financial year, according to Mr Subir Raha, Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC Ltd.

He was talking to presspersons after delivering the theme address at the 34th National Convention of Indian Society for Training & Development. He said that ONGC was working hard to make MRPL a profitable venture.

Meanwhile, the MRPL plant has registered over 100 per cent capacity utilisation. According to him, the capacity of the plant is 9.74 million tonnes per annum, but it has been increased to over 10 m.t. per annum through different de-bottlenecking activities.

"In the current financial year, MRPL will register cash profits but by the next financial year, 2004-05, it will certainly record net profits", Mr Raha said.

It may be noted that in the second quarter (July-September) of 2003-04, MRPL registered a net loss of Rs 45 crore on a turnover of Rs 2,788 crore.

In the corresponding period of the previous financial year, 2002-03, it registered a net loss of Rs 84 crore on a turnover of Rs 1,976 crore. Mr Raha said that ONGC was committed to setting up the gas extraction plant at Dahej. The raw material for this plant will be supplied by Rasgas of Qatar in the LNG (liquefied natural gas) form.

The cost of this plant will be Rs 900 crore and it will be funded through internal accruals.

The board of directors of ONGC has already approved it. At present, the detailed feasibility report of the plant is being prepared. It will take two years for ONGC to set up this plant.