The Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) on Thursday signed an MoU with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for transporting petroleum products to Bangladesh and southeast Asian countries from Assam.
The memorandum of understanding was signed here by NRL’s Chief General Manager (Marketing) Subrata Das and IWAI Director A Selva Kumar in the presence of Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli.
The MoU will facilitate the transportation of NRL’s petroleum products from IWAI’s jetty at Jogighopa in Assam to neighbouring Bangladesh and southeast Asian nations.
Speaking on the occasion, Sonowal said the National Waterways-2 (Brahmaputra) and Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR) will be used for exporting petroleum products to Bangladesh and southeast Asian countries.
The NRL will export around 10,000 MT of petroleum and petrochemical products per month from IWAI Jogighopa Multi Modal terminal.
It will also set up a Port of Loading (POL) Oil Terminal at Jogighopa Logistics Park with rail connectivity. “It is a watershed moment for the promotion of trade in Northeast India. The Act East policy is empowering the region towards unlocking the full potential of Hydrocarbon vision 2030.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi realises that the Northeast has the potential to become the engine of India’s growth story. Our rich interwebs of water bodies and potential of hydrocarbons must be explored in the best possible manner to power the region towards realisation of this vision,” he said.
According to the MoU, the IWAI will provide its terminal for cargo movement, technical support, land to lay down petroleum pipeline, bunkering facilities to be operated at various places enroute IBPR, and other technical assistance.
The NRL will provide 40 acres of land for connectivity with the nearest railway station at Jogighopa and erect loading and unloading facilities.
“The NRL is in the process of executing the Numaligarh Refinery Expansion Project (NREP), a refinery expansion cum modernisation project with an investment of Rs 28,026 crore. As part of the project, NRL shall transport over 16 overweight consignments (OWCs),” Sonowal said.
Five OWC packages have been transported successfully from major industrial hubs in western India to the NRL project site via the Haldia Port through the IBPR and NW-2.
The weight of cargo transported amounted to approximately 4,500 metric tonnes, he said, adding it would have required 300 trucks to transport this amount of cargo through roads.
The NRL is implementing the expansion of its refinery from 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA and it is scheduled to be completed by early 2025.
The NRL has also initiated the process of setting up a petrochemical plant at a cost of Rs 7,231 crore.
The NRL envisages to export 200 TMT of products per annum to Bangladesh through IWAI’s jetty in Jogighopa comprising diesel, petrol, solvent and polypropylene after commissioning of the expanded refinery and petrochemicals plant.
Earlier, NRL and IWAI had signed an MoU on August 26, 2021 for transporting OWC through maritime routes using the national waterways. The first such consignment was received at a jetty near Numaligarh by Sonowal in June this year.
In the Northeast, 20 national waterways and various projects worth more than Rs 800 crores are being implemented, while permanent terminals have been developed at Pandu and Dhubri.
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During the last two years, Dhubri terminal has been extensively used and 385 cargo vessels have moved from Dhubri to Bangladesh.
The MoU signing was also attended by Assam ministers Parimal Suklabaidya and Bimal Borah, IWAI chairman Sanjay Bandopadhyay, NRL chairman and Oil India Limited CMD Ranjit Rath, NRL managing director Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan, among others.
