CM Sarbananda Sonowal reviews NRL expansion, Bio Refinery projects

'Both projects will bring immense employment opportunities'

A Correspondent

NUMALIGARH: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal visited Numaligarh Refinery Limited to take stock of the ongoing works of the expansion project and implementation of Bio Refinery project on Wednesday. A meeting was held between Chief Minister Sonowal and Managing Director SK Barua, Director (Technical) Bhaskarjyoti Phukan, Director (Finance) Indraneel Mitra along with other senior officials of NRL to discuss various issues regarding the expansion project. Various issues regarding the expansion project of the refinery and starting of the new Bio refinery project were broadly discussed.

All the primary works for the expansion project have already begun and are going on in full capacity. The expansion will boost the production of NRL from the current 3 million ton per annum (MTPA) to 9 MTPA at an investment of Rs 22,594 crore. The Numaligarh Refinery expansion project is being pursued as part of the Government of India's Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast, which calls for doubling the oil and gas production and expanding the clean fuel production capacity in the region by 2030.

The ongoing works of the Bio refinery project worth Rs 1,200 crore was also reviewed and discussed in the meeting. The project is expected to be completed by December, 2021. To set up the bio refinery, a joint venture between State-run Numaligarh Refinery Limited and two foreign partners was signed last year. The joint venture, which will produce the eco-friendly bio-ethanol and other chemicals from bamboo biomass, has been created by NRL with equity participation of Chempolis Oy of Finland and Fortum 3 B.V. of Netherlands. The joint venture by the three partners will have an equity holding of 50 per cent by NRL, 28 per cent by Fortum 3 B.V. Netherlands and 22 per cent by Chempolis Oy of Finland. The project has been planned to keep in view the future demand of bio-fuel in the region. As a green initiative to produce energy from renewable sources, the bio refinery project is expected to give a fillip to bamboo cultivation in the region on commercially sustainable basis, generating large-scale employment and ushering in socio-economic transformation of the Northeast. The company has been named as- Assam Bio Refinery Private Limited (ABRPL).

Addressing the media, Sonowal said, "In our fight against the COVID-19, we have to stand our ground- we always need to wear a mask, maintain social distancing and make ourselves clean and hygienic. Along with that, all the farmers, workers and citizens have to work hard in their respective fields to cope with the economic losses due to the lockdown caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus. As per the guidelines issued by the Government of India, we have recently started the operations of all the tea industries, agricultural works in the fields and 64,000 small and large-scale industries in the State." Other issues like NDZ (No Development Zone), widening of the PWD roads for ease in carrying the huge machineries and equipment to the project sites were discussed in the meeting between Chief Minister Sonowal and NRL officials.