The investment will be made by the Indian public sector oil company in the 6MMTPA Numaligarh refinery expansion project, 1,640km long Paradip Numaligarh crude oil pipeline, crude oil import terminal at Paradip, 2G ethanol project, and the 129.5km India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline
The investment announcement was made during the 29th annual general meeting of Numaligarh Refinery. (Credit: Numaligarh Refinery Limited)
Numaligarh Refinery (NRL), the holding company for the Numaligarh oil refinery in Assam, India plans to invest over INR350bn ($4.4bn) in the next five years for pursuing major downstream and midstream projects in hand.
The investment will be made by the public sector oil company in the Numaligarh refinery expansion project (NREP), Paradip Numaligarh crude oil pipeline (PNCPL), a crude oil import terminal at Paradip (COIT), 2G ethanol project, and the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL).
Numaligarh Refinery said that by completing the projects, it will be able to achieve long-term business growth, in terms of revenue as well as profit.
The company is majority owned by Oil India Limited (69.6%), the Government of Assam (26%), and Engineers India (4.37%).
Numaligarh Refinery chairman R Rath said that the execution of the projects without any time and cost overruns will continue to be the main focus area of the company.
The company’s refinery has an existing capacity of three million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA). This is planned to be tripled to 9MMTPA with an estimated investment of over INR280bn ($3.52bn).
The expansion will be achieved through the installation of a 6MMTPA capacity refinery and related crude oil terminal and pipeline.
Numaligarh Refinery is aiming to commission the expanded refinery in 2024.
The associated Paradip Numaligarh crude oil pipeline to be laid between the Paradip Port in Odisha to the refinery in Assam will be nearly 1,640km in length. It is designed to transport 9MMTPA of imported crude.
Along with the crude oil import terminal at Paradip, the pipeline is expected to be commissioned in 2024.
The company’s 2G ethanol project to be located near its refinery in Assam will comprise a new biorefinery. The new facility will convert 3,00,000 tonnes of bamboo per year into 50,000 tonnes of fuel-grade bioethanol and 30,000 tonnes of biochemicals such as acetic acid, furfural, and furfuryl alcohol.
The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline is a nearly 129.5km long pipeline that is being laid between the Numaligarh oil refinery and the Petroleum Product Storage Depot at Parbatipur in Bangladesh. Construction on the INR3.46bn ($43m) pipeline project by Numaligarh Refinery is expected to be completed by the end of this year.