The Numaligarh Refinery limited (NRl) on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCl) for import of crude oil from the Paradip Port for its proposed refinery expansion at Numaligarh from existing 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA.
The tripartite agreement was signed in Bhubaneswar between PPT Chairman Rinkesh Roy, NRl Director (Technical) BJ Phukan and IOCl ED (Pipelines) AK Tiwari in the presence of Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, Assam Finance, Health, Education and Planning Minister HB Sarma, Assam Commerce and Industry Minister CM Patowary, NRl MD P Padmanabhan and IOCl Director (Pipelines) Aneesh Agarwal.
Under the NRl’s refinery expansion project, a 28-inch-diameter, 1,400-km-long crude oil pipeline of 1-MMTPA capacity would be laid for transporting 6 MMTPA of imported crude oil from the Paradip Port to Numaligarh in Assam.
The MoU provides for utilising the IOCl’s spare capacity of existing SPMs (single point moorings) at Paradip. The PPT would extend land space for installation of crude storage tanks, a pump house and a township at Paradip. This would lead to an estimated investment of Rs1,000 crore in Odisha and generate direct and indirect employment.