STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: In the last five years, Oil India Limited (OIl) has contributed around Rs 12,400 crore to the state exchequer of Assam. OIL and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL)’s combined turnover in 2021-22 constituted over 9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Assam for that year.
OIL has contributed around Rs 12,400 crore to the state exchequer in the last 5 years through royalty, VAT/CST, SGST and electricity duty. This was disclosed during the ‘Media Connect’ programme organized by OIL and NRL in which OIL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Dr Ranjit Rath; Rajeev Jain, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and NRL Managing Director (MD) Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan were present. This programme was organized to create awareness about OIL and NRL’s activities in Assam.
OIL CMD Dr Ranjit Rath, while speaking during the programme, said that OIL would begin exploration activities in new places in Assam. “Oil exploration will start soon on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra. For this, the seismic study has already begun. The exploration activities will be conducted in two blocks – Pathsala block and Mangaldai block. These two blocks fall under the Barpeta, Nalbari, Baksa, Kamrup and Udalguri districts.”
When asked about carrying out exploration below the Brahmaputra, Dr Rath said that it was not possible to know about the oil reserves below the River Brahmaputra unless exploration started in the northern bank of the river.
“Northeast India has a bright future in gas-based economy. At present, OIL is carrying out exploration activities in 33 blocks of Assam and seven blocks in Arunachal Pradesh. Exploration activities in Nagaland had hit a roadblock due to the inter-state border issue between Assam and Nagaland. However, recently this issue was resolved by the Chief Ministers of both states. So soon OIL will be able to begin exploration activities in Nagaland also,” he said.
He further said, “Myanmar is also in our radar, especially the area bordering Assam, which has a lot of potential for oil and gas exploration. OIL has plans to open a retail outlet in Myanmar and once the Asian Highway project is completed, Myanmar will emerge as a huge market.”
NRL CMD Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan said that NRL had many projects in the pipeline. “Our focus is on alternative fuels like bio fuel and ethanol products. The NRL wax production plant is the largest in India and it produces fine quality wax.”
The focus areas of OIL’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities are education, health, skill development and sports. Around 360 students enrolled under OIL’s ‘Super 30’ programme have got admission in IITs so far; 1,222 students in engineering colleges; and 58 students in medical colleges. Around 6 lakh students have benefitted from OIL’s Digital Education of Wheels programme while around 7 lakh people have benefitted from the mobile medical vans under the SPARSH programme of OIL.
NRL corporate communication manager Madhuchandra Adhikari Chaudhury, while elaborating about the company’s CSR initiatives, said, “The Hatibondhi programme has been introduced for mitigating the human-elephant conflict while mobile medical camps are organized under the Niramoy programme. NRL had started a nursing school in 2017 and almost all nursing students who have passed out from this school have got engaged in various health institutions. In addition, NRL has also funded around Rs 7.70 crore to start-ups.”
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