MRPL says no single geography, supplier or route decisive for crude sourcing

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has said that no single geography, supplier or route is ever decisive for it, as it sources crude from across the globe to meet the requirements of the refinery.

Answering to the queries of shareholders on the impact of West Asia crisis on crude oil sourcing of the company at its 38th annual general meeting, M Shyamprasad Kamath, Managing Director and CEO of the company, said MRPL as a company tries to secure crude supply through deliberate diversification of sourcing regions, suppliers, and shipping routes so that no single geography, supplier or route is ever decisive for it.

The company’s crude oil sourcing from West Asia came down from around 66 per cent in 2022-23 to around 27 per cent during the first quarter of 2026-27.

“We have also reduced our supplies from Russian barrels from 44 per cent to around 27-28 per cent,” he said, adding the company is trying to source crude from different regions across the globe to meet its requirements.

Replying to a question on the extent of the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) in the operations, he said the company is utilising AI in its day-to-day operations spanning generative, discriminative and predictive AI.

Highlighting some of the AI-based applications in the refinery, he said real-time prediction of melt flow index and xylene solubility in the polypropylene unit has helped the company to address lab analysis delays affecting grade transitions.

In the captive power plant, the company has implemented a real-time optimiser. This manages the dynamic power and steam demand. This has helped save oil to a significant extent, he said.

Published on August 24, 2026