Oil India Limited announced that the Board of Directors at its meeting held on March 16, 2022, has approved Rs 65.55 billion ($861 million) investment by subsidiary company Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) for implementation of petrochemical project at Numaligarh, Assam.
The board also approved the formation of a joint venture company between Assam Gas Company (AGCL) and Oil India (OIL) for the three geographical areas offered by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).
NRL is executing a major expansion project of capacity augmentation from present 3.0 MMTPA to 9.0 MMTPA by installing a 6 MMTPA capacity refinery and associated crude oil terminals & pipeline considering processing of Arab Light (AL) and Arab Heavy (AH) crude oil (AL:AH=30:70).
The required additional quantity of crude oil is planned to be imported through Paradip Port in Odisha. A cross country pipeline of around 1640 Km shall be laid from Paradip Port to Numaligarh for transporting 9 MMTPA of imported crude.
Part of the Government of India’s Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 initiative to help meet growing demand of petroleum products in northeastern India, NRL’s refinery expansion will increase overall crude oil processing capacity and it is scheduled to be completed by 2024.
Environmental clearance was obtained for the project on 27th July 2020. Approved budget for the project is Rs 280.26 billion.