Guwahati: The Numaligarh Refinery Ltd’s massive expansion plan is aimed to handle Arab light and Arab heavy crude oils.
The Numaligarh Refinery is a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Oil India, and the Assam Government.
The refinery was first commissioned in 2000 and has a capacity of three million tonnes per annum (mtpa). It is being expanded to increase capacity to 9 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).
The expansion is being undertaken with an estimated investment of Rs 280bn ($3.5bn) and is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The expansion will enable motor spirit (gasoline) and high-speed diesel (HSD) production from the new refinery to meet the stringent BS-VI specifications.
NRL’s expansion plan is a strategic move under the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 of the Indian Government to meet the growing petroleum product demand in the northeast.
The top honchos of NRL are of the opinion that the expansion will help to enhance energy security and promote regional economic growth in northeast India.
The NRL is constructing two new pipelines to meet the additional crude oil required for the expansion and to ensure the smooth operation of the refinery.
As per the plan, crude oil will be offloaded at Paradip Port in Odisha and will be transported to the refinery in Upper Assam through a 1,398 km-long pipeline.
The Paradip-Numaligarh Crude Pipeline (PNCPL) will pass through Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal. Another 654 km-long product pipeline will link the refinery to a marketing terminal at Siliguri in North Bengal.
