New Delhi: State-run Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) is expecting to commission its 2G bio-refinery in another two months, its Managing Director (MD) Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan told Energy Watch in an interview on the sidelines of India Energy Week (IEW) 2025. NRL, which is currently in the process of executing a huge refinery expansion project and a 2G bio-refinery project, is expecting to make significant progress on both the fronts in the upcoming financial year, said the MD.
NRL is executing a major expansion project that involves capacity augmentation of its refinery from present 3.0 MMTPA to 9.0 MMTPA by installing a 6 MMTPA capacity refinery and associated crude oil terminals at Paradip and a pipeline from Paradip to Numaligarh. The MD said that with the import terminal almost on the verge of completion, the company is expecting to ready the pipeline by September-October and commission the mother unit and DHDT of the refinery by December 2025.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
What are some of the highlights for NRL at IEW 2025?
See, these kind of conferences gives you a lot of opportunity to connect with people. There are many many things which we are taking away. Just to mention a few, we have got connected to guys who are very, very good at valorising carbon dioxide. We are all talking about capturing carbon dioxide and we generally talk about CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage). But for the utilisation part, we have met people who are very good at it. We will take forward those discussions.
Then, we have also interacted with somebody who was trying to valorise non-biodegradable municipal solid waste. This person is claiming that they can convert it into drop-in fuel (a synthetic or renewable fuel that can be used in place of petroleum-based fuels like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel) through gaseous conversion route. And then that fuel can be actually further refined in the refinery.
We have met with guys who have an AI-based dashboard. So, they are bringing the entire visibility of the refinery at your fingertips. So, this has been a great learning opportunity, opportunity to interact with people with knowledge.
You have a refinery expansion underway. Have you had discussions for crude oil procurement?
We have identified a huge bouquet of crude already which we can procure. And we have partnered with BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd). They are guiding us. Because they have their expertise in this arena and we see no merit in rediscovering the wheel. So, we will leverage their experience and bring some value to the new refinery. That is how we are progressing.
What is the update on the expansion project? How close are you to commissioning?
We are trying to commission at least the mother unit and DHDT by December 2025. Pipeline will also get commissioned prior to that. The import terminal is almost on the verge of completion. Some connectivity issues are there. Pipeline should be ready by, I think, September-October this year.
What is the update on the 2G bio-refinery?
Our bio-refinery’s trial run has been completed in December 2024. We have established bamboo-to-ethanol conversion. The purification section and the recovery section — these are the two sections where some jobs are remaining. We should be able to complete it in another one-and-a-half months’ or two months’ time.
NRL exports diesel to Bangladesh. In the backdrop of the political turmoil, have there been any issue with payments?
Nothing, actually. It is business-as-usual for us till today.
We are now at the brink of a new financial year. What are the things that you are looking forward to in this year?
I would like our margins to be more robust than it has been this year. We would like to enjoy a little more margin. The third quarter is good so far. But I only hope and pray that it remains like that, at least. Because in Q2 (FY25), we saw a very, very reduced margin. And I think the standalone refineries did not do well financially. We have kept up an excellent physical performance. We hope to improve upon whatever we have done physically in the existing refinery. We want to complete the project, as we are expecting. We want to commission the bio-refinery.
We are also acutely aware that tomorrow, if the demand goes down for any fuel, we will need alternative revenue streams, so we have built-in nimbleness in our refinery. We have a project which is producing around 360 ktpa of polypropylene. There are other chemicals which can also be produced. Our refinery configuration is such that with a little bit of investment, we can produce a lot many other chemicals.
What is the outlook on fuel consumption trends in and around the North-East?
Fortunately, Assam and the North-East is growing very rapidly. Last year, the (economic) growth was 19 percent. Imagine if a state is growing at 19 percent, you will also increase the energy consumption. Bihar is growing, West Bengal is growing. So, we are in a happy situation. Hopefully, everything that we produce will get absorbed in this geography. And then there’s Bangladesh, where things will improve sooner or later. So, Bangladesh is also a market.
Myanmar was also on your radar?
Not was… Myanmar is on our radar. Let us see how Manipur pans out and how the geopolitics pans out that side. And then we plan to re-enter that market. There is no issue.
