A refined approach
IndiaÔÇÖs largest oil refinery is bringing rewards to the local community as well as to its shareholders. Jeff Daniel reports.
If Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Limited (MRPL) of India was a football team, it would be high in the Premier League. After all, itÔÇÖs the largest and most successful refinery in the whole of the sub-continent, employing some 1,250 people and generating not far short of ┬ú5 billion in sales.
Like football teams, itÔÇÖs a company that also likes to collect ÔÇÿsilverwareÔÇÖÔÇöor at least in its case, public awards. Some of these are more predictable in nature, such as the local chamber of commerceÔÇÖs awards for exports or gratitude from the state tax authorities for the contribution the company has made; but many of them are heavyweight and go to the heart of what makes this business successful.
When an operation receives a five-star rating from the British Safety Council for its health and safety management systems or wins high technology awards or environmental protection recognition, then itÔÇÖs indicative of a management that is trying to make a positive contribution to its workers, host state and country as a whole.
The refinery is located towards the bottom third of India, in the state of Bangalore on the west coast, facing the Indian Ocean. ItÔÇÖs surrounded by beautiful hilly terrain north of Mangalore city and features a versatile, state-of-the-art plant, giving it considerable flexibility to process crudes of various API with a high degree of automation.
MRPL was created in 1988 as a joint venture between two of IndiaÔÇÖs significant industrial players but since 2003 it has been a subsidiary of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of IndiaÔÇöa Fortune Global 500 Company and the first ever Indian entrant in FortuneÔÇÖs list of the WorldÔÇÖs Most Admired Companies in 2007.
The refinery was originally built with a processing capacity of 3.0 million tonnes per annum, but volume has since been more than tripled to the present capacity of 9.69 million tonnes per annum, thanks to investments of around $3 billion. The refinery was conceived to maximise middle distillates, with capability to process light to heavy and sour to sweet crudes with 24 to 46 API gravity. ItÔÇÖs the only refinery in India to have two hydrocrackers producing premium diesel (high cetane) and the only Indian refinery to have two CCRs producing high octane unleaded petrol.
In fact, MRPL has a product list of around 30 different categories of oil, ranging from LPG for domestic heating and cooking to bitumen which, in addition to satisfying eight per cent of domestic consumption, is exported by the company to Africa, the Middle East and AsiaÔÇöactivity that has brought it many of the accolades it has won.
So successful have sales been that the plant has been utilising designed-in margins and running at well over 100 per cent of nominal capacity for four yearsÔÇöat times peaking as high as 130 per cent. Not surprisingly, plans have been recently announced to increase the nameplate capacity yet again, this time to 11.82 million tonnes per annum at a cost of around $3 billion.┬á
Of course, converting crude oil to consumable products is what refineries are for but itÔÇÖs how it goes about its work which sets MRPL apart. At times, its list of socially contributory activities reads more like one belonging to a government than a private company. There is barely an aspect of ordinary life within the surrounding district where MRPL isnÔÇÖt involvedÔÇöroads between neighbouring villages have been surfaced and fresh drinking water has been made available to villagers, as has free medical treatment of every imaginable kind.
The company is aware that a productive, stable workforce depends upon keeping families and in particular, non-employed spouses, satisfied. As well as several nearby villages, MRPL has its own self-contained and cosmopolitan township which provides residential facilities for about half the workforce and their families. The company has worked hard to provide an attractive and comfortable home-from-home. The naturally lush green environment is further enhanced with planted gardens and parks and boasts the full range of conveniences you could expect to find in any wealthy urban communityÔÇösocial club, swimming pool, gym, indoor and outdoor sports, hospital and not forgetting connection to cable TV. As well as family homes, single men have their own bachelor hostel.
For employees and the wider community, MRPL has set up an English language secondary school affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education and administered by an independently registered educational trust. The school aims to impart education to all without distinction of caste or creed and addresses the educational needs of the whole locality. In total, there are over 1,000 students enrolled there.
In order to help the poor and underprivileged people of the neighbourhood, self help groups are being encouraged, with training on various skill-developing activities aimed at helping these people into activities designed to generate an income.
ItÔÇÖs also gratifying to note the lengths to which MRPL goes in order to meet its environmental responsibilities. Measures taken for the protection of the environment start at the design stageÔÇöthe process units are heat integrated to the full extent to achieve higher overall thermal efficiency of the refinery, which automatically reduces fuel oil or fuel gas consumption and emissions. The plant also uses some of the most advanced technology around to treat water and recover 99 per cent of sulphur.
MRPL has also developed a 300-acre green belt around the entire refinery, consisting of plant species specially selected to blend with the local flora. The main objective of the green belt is to mitigate fugitive emissions or accidental releases, control soil erosion, facilitate waste water utilisation, control noise pollution and improve the aesthetic view of the refinery. Some of the species, such as mango and shisum, are expected to act as bio-indicators. 
Refining is a hazardous business, with the risk of fire or explosion an ever-present danger, so the last word has to go to health and safety. MRPL is reported to be the safest of all IndiaÔÇÖs refineries and at one stage went for 1,234 daysÔÇöequal to 7.3 million man hoursÔÇöwithout a reportable injury, making health and safety one area where MRPL is quite different to Premier League football!
