An explosion struck the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) complex in Mangaluru, Karnataka, triggering panic in the surrounding area and prompting rescue operations, The New Indian Express reported.

MRPL operates a 15-million tonne per year refinery at Mangaluru on India's west coast — a processing capacity of roughly 300,000 bpd — making the site one of the larger refining assets in the region. Details on which unit was affected, the cause of the blast, and any impact on throughput were not immediately available.

Rescue operations were underway following the explosion, according to the report. Authorities had not yet released information on casualties at the time of publication. The blast triggered panic among residents and workers in the vicinity of the refinery.

MRPL is a subsidiary of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). The Mangaluru refinery processes a mix of domestic and imported crudes and supplies fuel to southern Indian markets.

The incident comes as India's refining sector runs hard to meet domestic demand growth, with coastal refineries such as Mangaluru handling both domestic sales and export cargoes. Any extended outage at a unit of this size would tighten product supply on India's west coast and could shift diesel and gasoline import-export balances in the region.

Watch item: the unit-level damage assessment and MRPL's statement on outage duration, which will determine the blast's effect on refinery throughput and regional product margins.