Guwahati: The massive 130-km long Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL), which was built for Rs 377.08 crore, is probably going to be put into service by the end of the month, according to government sources on Sunday.
The international oil pipeline, known as IBFPL, will transport fuel from the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. (NRL) marketing terminal in Siliguri, West Bengal, to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation's Parbatipur depot (BPC).
An NRL senior official said that the mechanical work on the bilateral project, which is being funded by India, was finished on December 12 of last year.
He continued, "We have established the commissioning target completion in February 2023.
The 130-km IBFPL's groundbreaking ceremony was held in September 2018 with the participation of the prime ministers of Bangladesh and India through video conference.
"The undertaking is a remarkable feat of engineering. We encountered many obstacles, but thanks to the two nations' mutual collaboration and technological understanding, this one international project will succeed "The largest refiner in the North East, according to another top executive
She continued, "The IBFPL has been executed successfully because of the genuine friendship between India and Bangladesh, and it will continue to serve as a testament to the best relationship between the two South Asian countries.
In a meeting with Hasina in 2017, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to provide funding for this pipeline, which has an annual capacity of one million metric 7-tonnes (MMTPA).
The IBFPL's construction would cost a total of Rs 377.08 crore. For the India portion of the pipeline, NRL has invested Rs 91.84 crore, and the remaining Rs 285.24 crore for the Bangladesh portion of the pipeline is being funded by the Indian government as a grant-in-aid.
Bangladesh will begin importing gas and oil from NRL later this year, according to a recent report made by Assam Assembly on the visit of a delegation of legislators to the neighbouring nation.
In a meeting with the team, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that "importing fuel oil from India through pipeline" will begin this year.
The 130-km India-Bangladesh Friend- ship Pipeline (IBFPL) project intends to export oil products from India to Bangladesh, according to the newspaper. "She claimed that Bangladesh wants to import oil from India through pipeline," the article stated.
A long-term agreement was signed by NRL and BPC in April 2017 for the sale of High Speed Diesel (HSD) from India to Bangladesh via the IBFPL.
Later that month, in October of the same year, the government-run NRL and the BPC signed a second 15-year agreement for the shipment of gas oil (diesel) to the neighbouring country. Oil India Ltd. holds a 69.63 percent ownership in NRL, while Assam Government and Engineers India Ltd. each hold a 26% and a 4.37 percent stake.
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