ONGC Mangalore Petrochem to begin production by July

ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd (OMPL), the aromatics complex in Mangalore jointly promoted by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), will begin production by the end of June or early July.

The project is 99 per cent complete and the company will be able to commission it in 20-30 days, sources told Business Line .

The pre-commissioning activities are going on for some time.

Paraxylene and benzene are the major products of OMPL. Paraxylene is used in the production of polyester fibres and PET bottles.

Benzene is used as an intermediate to make products such as styrene, polystyrene, phenol and nylon.

The feedstock for OMPL will be supplied by the MRPL refinery in Mangalore.

The OMPL plant will have the capacity to produce 920,000 tonnes of paraxylene and 283,000 tonnes of benzene a year. With its full capacity, the company can attain a business turnover of around ₹10,000 crore a year, sources said.

The company has marketing plans for the exports and domestic sectors. In the domestic market, the products from OMPL will help develop downstream industries in and around Mangalore, they added.

OMPL has invested ₹5,800 crore to set up the plant on an area of 442 acres.

A majority of the people employed in non-executive cadre in the company are from the families displaced by the project.

Of the 240 non-executive staff members, around 220 are from such families, sources said.

For the executive cadres, the company went to local colleges to recruit people. The recruitment process is going on for the past two-and-a-half years.

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