September 16, 2024 [Reuters]- State-run explorer Oil India Ltd hopes to operate its refinery in the northeastern state of Assam at an expanded capacity of 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the fiscal year to March 2027, Chairman Ranjit Rath said on Saturday.

Oil India’s subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) is expanding the capacity of the plant from the current 60,000 bpd and laying a crude oil pipeline connecting the refinery to Paradip Port in eastern state of Odisha, Rath said.

“Both the projects are on schedule and are expected to be commissioned in December 2025,” he told a press conference.

The company would import about 110,000 bpd of crude for processing at the expanded refinery, he said.

Oil India plans to invest 250 billion rupees ($3 billion) by 2030 across various projects, including clean energy assets.

NRL is also setting up a 50,000 tons per year biorefinery to produce ethanol using bamboo as feedstock.

Rath said ethanol production from the Assam biorefinery is expected to start by the end of September.

As well as supplying the northeast of the country with fuel, NRL also provides diesel to Bangladesh through a pipeline with a 1 million tons per year capacity.

Rath said there was no disruption to Bangladesh diesel supplies despite a political crisis in the state.

“Letter of credit is in place for supplies to Bangladesh,” he said.

Oil India has a stake in two upstream projects in Russia-Vankorneft and Tass-Yuryakh. Its dividend of $250 million is in Moscow branch of an Indian Bank and is yet to be repatriated, he said.

Other Indian companies also hold stakes in the two projects. About $600 billion in total dividends is yet to be received by the companies, he added.

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