NEW DELHI:
According to Chairman Ranjit Rath, state-owned explorer Oil India Ltd. intends to run its refinery in the northeastern state of Assam at an increased capacity of 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the fiscal year ending in March 2027.

According to Rath, Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL), an Oil India subsidiary, is building a crude oil pipeline to connect the refinery to Paradip Port in the eastern state of Odisha, as well as increasing the plant’s capacity from the present 60,000 bpd.

He stated at a news conference that “both the projects are on schedule and are expected to be commissioned in December 2025.” According to him, the company would import roughly 110,000 barrels of crude per day to be processed at the enlarged refinery.

By 2030, Oil India intends to invest $3 billion (250 billion rupees) in a variety of initiatives, including sustainable energy assets. Additionally, NRL is building a 50,000 tonne annual biorefinery to make ethanol from bamboo feedstock.

Rath stated that by the end of September, ethanol production from the Assam biorefinery is anticipated to begin.

In addition to fuelling the northeast region of the nation, NRL supplies diesel to Bangladesh via a pipeline capable of carrying one million tonnes of fuel annually.

Despite the state’s political unrest, Rath maintained that diesel supply to Bangladesh remained unaffected. “Letter of credit is in place for supplies to Bangladesh,” he stated.

Two upstream projects in Russia, Tass-Yuryakh and Vankorneft, are owned by Oil India. According to him, its $250 million dividend is still in the Indian Bank branch in Moscow and has not yet been returned home.

The two projects also include other Indian corporations as investors. The corporations still haven’t received all of the dividends, which amount about $600 billion, he said.