Numaligarh refinery plans outlets in north

The Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) plans to expand its footprint beyond North East by setting up petrol stations in states like Rajasthan and Haryana and exporting fuel to Bangladesh.

NRL, popularly known as 'accord refinery', has received permission from the government to set up 510 retail outlets to sell petrol and diesel. A roadmap has been prepared for setting up the retail outlets in different parts of the country in a phased manner, company Managing Director B K Das told PTI here.

Altogether 73 retail outlets, 42 in the North-East and 31 in other parts of the country including West Bengal, Rajasthan and Haryana would be set up this year, he said.

NRL plans to increase its market share in the north- eastern region to 30 per cent in the next three years from the present 11 per cent, he said. Currently, IOC and its Assam Oil Division have the lion's share in the region.

"Our main focus is to put up retail outlets in the North- East... We will open outlets in other parts of the country also," he said. NRL, he said, was also eyeing the market in neighbouring Bangladesh and an agreement was recently signed between its parent company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation for export of high speed diesel.

As per the agreement, NRL would export 10,000 tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh from the refinery during June to December this year, Das said.

The three million tonnes-a-year refinery was operating at below par capacity due to non availability of crude and the company was awaiting increase in output by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) for raising production.

"We have to wait for more production from ONGC and Oil India Ltd. IOC's Bongaigaon refinery is setting up a unit to process more crude from outside. Once it is put in place, NRL is likely to get some more Assam crude," he said.

He said the landlocked refinery, which was at present sending its products mainly by railway and road transport, was in the process of putting up a marketing terminal at Siliguri in West Bengal at a cost of Rs 83 crore to improve the evacuation process.