First oil from state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) just-started KG deepsea oilfield has gone to its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) for processing into fuels like petrol and diesel, the two firms said.

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ONGC in January started oil production from its Krishna Godavari basin KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) block, lying in Andhra offshore. The field is producing some 12,000-12,500 barrels of oil per day currently, using a floating production and storage offloading (FPSO). The oil is stored on the FPSO, and once it reaches a critical level, it is transferred to a ship, which carries it to a refinery.

"The first crude oil cargo from #ONGC Deepwater Krishna Godavari basin has reached ONGC subsidiary @Ongc_Mrpl Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited," ONGC said in a post on X.

MRPL received the first cargo, loaded on a ship Swarna Sindhu on March 9. Crude oil was loaded on the ship in the Bay of Bengal, and it travelled around the southern tip of India to reach Mangalore on the west coast.

The ONGC subsidiary was also the first to receive oil produced from the firm's Sudan property in 2003. It also received its first oil from the Russian far-east field of Sakhalin-1 in 2006 and the waxy crude Cairn's Rajasthan block started producing in 2009.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of ONGC, has a stake in the Greater Nile Oil Project in Sudan and Sakhalin-1. ONGC holds a 30 per cent interest in Cairn-operated Barmer block in Rajasthan. Cairn is now part of Vedanta Ltd.

"This sweet (low sulphur) indigenous crude is poised to be transformed into various fuels and petrochemicals at MRPL, Mangalore, contributing impactfully to the Athmanirbhar Bharath mission of the Government of India," MRPL said in a separate statement.

"At its peak, this production is expected to reach 45,000 barrels of oil per day of crude oil and 10 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas." Speaking on the occasion, MRPL managing director M Shyamprasad Kamath said this crude oil production results from ONGC Group's commitment and technical capabilities to contribute to the nation's energy self-dependence. He said this crude oil would amount to a 7 per cent increase in India's crude oil and natural gas production potential at its peak.

"MRPL, a coastal refinery with three separate crude distillation units and essential supporting infrastructure, is well poised to process newer crudes. This has enabled it to have a diverse crude basket of 250 crude oil from around the globe, of which more than 100 have already been processed in the refinery complex at Mangalore," it added. MRPL has an annual capacity to refine 15 million tonnes of crude oil into fuel.