Mangaluru : The State government has approved a request by the Mangalore Petrochemicals and Refineries Ltd. (MRPL) for another 1,050 acres of land, even as the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) is entrusted with the task of acquiring of the land.

“We want the additional land to be contiguous to the existing facility as the expansion requires continuity,” said MRPL Managing Director H. Kumar. In an informal interaction with mediapersons here on Monday, Mr. Kumar said the company intends to enhance its production capacity from the present 15 million metric tones (MMT) to 18 MMT with the expansion.

This expansion, Mr. Kumar said, would coincide with the direction from the Union government to all refineries in India to produce Bharat Stage (BS) V and VI quality fuel by the year 2020. Though the Union government has set a 2020 deadline, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas wants the quality upgrading to be done by 2019, said M. Venkatesh, Director (Refinery). It means the product should be ready by December 2018 so as to give three months’ time to fuel outlets to completely clear old stock.

Mr. Kumar said north Indian regions and metros in the country were getting BS IV standard petrol and diesel. Entire Karnataka would be covered with BS IV fuel from April 1, 2016, after which it would be extended across the country in a year. Graduation to BS V and VI should happen in the coming years, he added.

Improving fuel standards is aimed at reducing vehicular air pollution at source, as the sulphur content in BS V fuel would be just 10 parts per million (ppm), as against 50 ppm in BS IV. Automobile manufacturers too have to upgrade the combustion engines in the vehicles accordingly, he said.

The quality upgrade requires additional infrastructure, which is why the company has demanded additional land, Mr. Kumar said.