Numaligarh Refinery plans $3 billion expansion to treble capacity

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) plans a $3 billion expansion of its 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Assam, its managing director P Padmanabhan said.

He said his firm is awaiting a response from the oil ministry on the plan to treble the refinery capacity to 180,000 bpd.

NRL, with some refineries of Indian Oil Corp, meets the fuel demand for the northeastern part of the country.

The company plans to shut the refinery for two-three weeks in September for maintenance, catalyst change at a hydrocracker and hooking up a diesel hydrotreater with the existing unit, he said.

"We are building up stock to meet demand in the region... there will not be any shortages," Padmanabhan told Reuters.

NRL is majority owned by refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp.

He said other refineries in the region are not planning a maintenance shutdown of units and will ensure availability of fuels in the region. "If required, BPCL will supply the fuel," he added.

($1 = 66.8265 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)