Water shortage forces MRPL shutdown

Parts of the South, especially Karnataka, could face a shortage of petroleum products following a shutdown of two units of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) due to water scarcity. Exports of MRPL are also likely to be hit, sources in the company said. In a notification to the National Stock Exchange, MRPL, which has a refining capacity of 15 million tonnes, said the refinery was receiving around 5.5 million gallons of water a day from Nethravathi river. With water availability in the river and downstream dams depleting from end of March, the district authorities reduced supply to MRPL to one-third level and on Wednesday completely stopped the intake of water from the river. “The reserve water availability in the refinery can meet the full load for 1.5 days. In order to overcome the situation and pulling on the resources for the next couple of days till rainfall starts, it has been decided to shut down the Phase-III and Phase-II units with immediate effect. There will be a shortage of supply of products to MRPL-fed locations. The company may have to incur additional demurrage on account of delay in unloading crude because of ullage (liquid lost due to storage) and loading of products,” the notification said. MRPL's production is marketed by Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum. Speaking to The Hindu, MRPL Managing Director U. K. Basu, however, said the oil marketing companies would have already made alternative arrangements as a planned shutdown, for 45 days, was scheduled from April 17. In view of the water shortage, MRPL would advance the shutdown now. The oil industry was informed about the planned shutdown two months ago, he said, adding export commitments would be honoured. The water scarcity, he said, was due to less rainfall. Phase-I unit of the refinery was being operated with reserve water. N. S. Channappa Gowda, Deputy Commissioner, Dakshina Kannada, told The Hindu that supply of water to MRPL depended on inflows. If there was 9.5 feet of water in the Thumbe vented dam, at least two million gallons a day of water could be given to MRPL, he said. Keywords: MRPL, water refinery