Capacity expansion project on track, bio-refinery nears completion.
Guwahati: Assam’s own homegrown Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) is expecting to be a Navratna company soon, managing director Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan has said.
“We are right now Schedule A company and are expecting to be Navratna,” Phukan told Business North East (BNE). On July 4, 2023 NRL was upgraded from being a Miniratna company to Schedule A. The status recognises the company’s strong financial performance and operational efficiency and contribution to the economic development of the Northeast.
Navratna is a status granted to central public sector enterprises only after being upgraded to Schedule A, opening doors to greater liberty for the board to make financial decisions.
There is hectic activity at NRL as it readies to triple its refining capacity from 3 million tonnes per year to 9 million tonnes per year. It is a massive project and with other investiments added amounting to more than Rs 35,000 crore that will give Assam a host of opportunities to expand in different sectors of the economy, according to reports.
“50% of the project has been completed,” said Phukan, adding that the overall expansion project also includes setting up of a crude oil import terminal at Paradip port in Odisha and laying of about 1640 km of pipelines for transportation of imported crude oil to Numaligarh.
Another ambitious project of the company is the bio-refinery project in Numaligarh where the company will use bamboo and other natural material for manufacture of bio-fuel.
“The bio refinery project is also in the verge of completion,” Phukan told BNE. The bio-refinery is being made with foreign collaboration and will help hundreds of bamboo growers in the entire Northeast.
Apart from its technical and engineering works, NRL is also involved in a series of corporate social responsibility activities, said the MD. He said that NRL has also incubated start-ups who have made a turnover of over Rs50 crore.
NRL is also implementing a 360 KTPA Polypropylene project at an estimated cost of Rs7,231 crores. The project will help downstream industries for making plasticware and utility in the region.
NRL ranks among the top 20 CPSEs in India, both in terms of sales revenue and profitability. Among the Indian PSU refineries, NRL is considered as a high-performing model refinery with industry leading figures in terms of distillate yield, specific energy consumption and gross refining margins.
The company has acted as a catalyst in promoting the Act East policy of the government of India by exporting petroleum products to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar.
On December 27 last year, NRL made a move in like with a 10-year vision by signing a memorandum of agreement with the North East Institute of Science and Technology, (NEIST) based in Jorhat. The focus will be research and development to move into broader energy plays, according to NRL.
With a long experience as a corporate leader, Phukan has been diligently working towards getting NRL to the top in terms of efficiency and status, according to NRL employees. The elevated status is sure to further help parent company Oil India which is now a Maharatna CPSE.
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