Fuel supply likely to be affected as MRPL shuts down III unit

PTI

Mangaluru, 06 May 2016: The water rises in the city has not only affected drinking water needs, but has triggered a chain of events that is likely to stop fuel supplies throughout the state.

 

Supply of petrol and diesel in Karnataka might be affected in the coming days as Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has begun shutting down the refinery’s phase-III units following acute water scarcity. Media reports have said that the shutdown began on Thursday evening.

 

The move will cause the production of diesel and petrol by 50% and 30% respectively.

 

MRPL produces about 5,00,000 tons of diesel, 1,00,000 tons of petrol and 75,000 tons of LPG a month, thus meeting most of the state’s requirements.

 

In the meantime, the District Administration had stopped supplying water to MRPL and other industries for seven days since April 26 and the orders were extended on May 3, thus suspending water supply for another 10 days.

 

When MRPL had shut down two secondary units, it had minimal impact on the supply of diesel and petrol, but had brought down LPG production by about 50%.

 

It should be noted that back in 2012, MRPL had stopped operations for a few days due to similar reasons.

 

On the other hand, ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd too, has begun a shutdown of units.