Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), subsidiary of the government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is ready with a blueprint for 120 retail outlets to be rolled out in Karnataka. MRPL entered the fuel retail segment in 2008. Karnataka is MRPL's base-state. MRPL has approval to set up 500 retail outlets and its parent company ONGC has an approval to set up 1,100 retail outlets. Setting up an outlet costs MRPL Rs 5 crore.    

MRPL earned $2.94 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the first quarter as against a negative gross refining margin of $4.15 a barrel in April-June 2012.  Turnover rose 19.8 per cent to Rs 16,134 crore while export rose 16.6 per cent to Rs 6,928 crore.    

MRPL processed 3.3 million tonne of crude oil at its Mangalore refinery, up from 2.9 million tonne in the first quarter last year. The 15 million tonne a year refinery is being expanded to 18 million tonne, which is 99 per cent complete. In June 2010, when the Union government deregulated petrol prices, MRPL’s management breathed a sigh of relief.