Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said on Thursday that Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd will not merge with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, but expressed optimism that MRPL will turnaround in a year's time.

"With the financial support of ONGC, I can assure that the bad days of MRPL are over and the refinery which was already one of the best in technical terms, will soon be one of the most profitable refineries in the country," Naik said at a function organised in Mangalore to receive the first shipment of crude oil from Sudan.

Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani was also present at the function.

Company officials said MRPL, which posted a net loss of Rs 419 crore (Rs 4.19 billion) in the year ended March 31, 2003, was likely to post cash profits of Rs 73 crore (Rs 730 million) this fiscal. "The net loss is projected to come down to Rs 195 crore (Rs 1.95 billion) in 2003-04."

Total revenue is projected to jump to Rs 11,012 crore (Rs 110.12 billion) in 2003-04 as opposed to Rs 8694 crore (Rs 86.94 billion) in the last fiscal.

MRPL was expected to post cash profits this fiscal and would be in the black next year, Naik told reporters.

ONGC plans to run the refinery at a capacity of 9.6 million tonnes. Currently, product offtake by oil retailing firms is restricted to only 6 million tonnes per annum, Naik said adding the company would explore avenues for sale of increased production from MRPL.    

The future roadmap for the refinery would be to optimise the refinery processes, residue upgradation for value added products and direct marketing of products, he said.