Numaligarh Refinery to go on stream by March

KOLAGHAT, FEB 7: The mechanical commissioning of the Rs 2,700-crore Numaligarh Refinery is due in March, according to IBP chairman and managing director SN Mathur. The refinery is a joint venture of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL, IBP Co Ltd and the Assam government.

It was initially decided that IBP would have a 51 per cent stake in the three million tonne per annum mtpa Numaligarh Refinery. But with time the shareholding pattern has changed. Now, BPCL has the largest shareholding of 32 per cent followed by IBP8217;s 19 per cent and Assam government8217;s 10 per cent in the form of landed property. Two other public sector companies 8212; Oil amp; Natural Gas Corp ONGC and Oil India Ltd OIL 8212; may also pick up stake in this refinery, the largest in the north-eastern region. Numaligarh has a debt-equity ratio of 3:1. Mathur, who is also on the Numaligarh Refinery board, said 95 per cent of the work has already been completed and the remaining will be finished before the mechanicalcommissioning.

Initially, the refinery will run at half of its rated capacity and there will be efforts to achieve full capacity as early as possible. The crude required for the refinery will be sourced from oil wells located in Assam. Despite the fact that Assam wells are drying up, Mathur believes that the refinery will get uninterrupted supply once the Barauni refinery of Indian Oil Corporation in Bihar, which has been sourcing crude from Assam, starts importing it through Haldia Port via the Haldia-Barauni crude pipeline.