Assam: Eyeing Sylhet market, Numaligarh Refinery to set up terminal at Panchgram

SILCHAR: In a bid to expand its export network in Bangladesh a bit further, Numaligarh Refinery is all set to build up a terminal depot at Panchgram near Silchar. During the just concluded Silchar Sylhet Festival at Sylhet, Jayanta Goswami, the general manager (Marketing) of the NRL said, in last fiscal year, their company had exported 60 thousand metric tonnes of diesel to Bangladesh from its terminal at Siliguri through Parbatipur border. =NRL earned 60 million US dollar last year. Now NRL has planned to set up a terminal at Panchgram in Barak Valley so that export of petroleum products to Sylhet could be more easier and smoother.

Later speaking to this correspondent in Sylhet, Goswami informed that the 45 acres of land at Panchagram had already been earmarked and all the formalities would be done within two months. Construction of the terminal would take two to three years and after that petroleum products would be exported to Sylhet via Sutarkandi land port in Karimganj.

On March 18 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina had inked the Friendship Treaty. It was agreed upon that petrol and diesel would be exported to Bangladesh through pipelines in near future. An NRL source said, they too looked forward for the pipeline connection.

The NRL had been exporting diesel to Bangladesh for last five years. Goswami said, in every fiscal year, the demand for export was increasing as they assumed that in next year they would be required to export at least 90 thousand metric tonnes. Presently export was being operated from the Siliguri terminal via Parbatipur in Bangladesh. Once the Panchgram set up was operational, export to Sylhet region would much easier.

Another highly placed source said, the NRL is setting up a bio refinery for production of ethanol utilizing bamboo biomass adjacent to its petroleum refinery at Numaligarh. The project is being implemented by a joint venture company with 51 per cent equity participation from NRL at a project cost of Rs 4,250 crores. The project is expected to be commissioned towards the end of 2023. Bamboo feedstock requirement would be 500 TMTPA (green) or 300 TMTPA or thousand metric tons per annum (bone dry). Goswami in the concluding session of the Silchar Sylhet said, the NRL would formally approach the Bangladesh government to start bamboo cultivation at Tamabil bordering Meghalaya at Bholaganj area. Even bamboo sapling would be provided to the local cultivators and NRL will procure bamboo from them in the future.

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