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A senior company spokesperson confirmed Business Standard that NRL was exploring the neighbouring country’s market and business discussions with Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and the government of Bangladesh for supplying diesel were on. “Both BPC and government of Bangladesh have expressed keen interest in the project and desired that this project be pursued expeditiously,” the spokesperson added. NRL and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), NRL’s parent company, had “detailed discussion” with BPC and Bangladesh government representatives in the month of January 2013 to “progress on this proposal”.
If everything goes as desired, NRL will supply diesel to BPC through a 170 km long product pipeline from Siliguri in West Bengal to Parbatipur in Bangladesh.
“NRL had earlier in 2007-2008 sent few consignments of diesel to Bangladesh through river route. However, that had to be discontinued soon in view of number of difficulties like low draft in river Brahmaputra, non-availability of night navigation facility leading to delays in transportation, security concerns, etc. “It is being felt that an alternative and dependable mode of transportation for petroleum products would be required for achieving a reasonable volume of business on a long term basis. The proposed pipeline will meet this requirement,” the spokesperson said.
Since the project involves laying a cross border pipeline it will call for a number of clearance from both the India and Bangladesh governments. The spokesperson said: “We will be able to talk about the target date for starting the business after completion of Detail Feasibility Report (DFR) for the project which will take around six months time.”
NRL has a plan for expanding refining capacity of its refinery at Numaligarh, in Golaghat district of Upper Assam, from present level of 3 MMTPA (million metric tonne per annum) to 8/9 MMTPA. This project has been incorporated in the 12th Five Year Plan of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas and Techno Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR) is under preparation by Engineers India Ltd.
Major portion of the products after the proposed expansion will be sold within the Numaligarh Refinery Product Supply Envelope which covers entire North East, Eastern Region, part of Eastern U.P. and Bhutan.
