GUWAHATI: The operations of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in Bangladesh have not been affected by the political turmoil in the neighbouring country, the refinery said on Friday.
Dr Ranjit Rath, Chairman of NRL, said the Assam-based refinery was pushing products by using the Indo-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline.
"The pipeline was built at the behest of government of India. Given the excellent collaboration that we have with our neighbour Bangladesh, the pipeline is actually coming handy. As we speak, we are pushing products through that pipeline. There is no disturbance," Rath, who is also the Chairman & Managing Director of Oil India Limited (OIL) told the media in Guwahati.
The OIL is the largest shareholder of NRL.
"…we are also exploring opportunities to see if we can put up a terminal in (Assam’s) Silchar so we can also target the northeastern parts of Bangladesh," Rath said.
He added that while the expansion of the refinery is underway, the NRL is having collaborative arrangements with the oil marketing companies to cater to the entire Indian market.
Meanwhile, the NRL declared a final dividend of Rs 258.42 crore for the 2023-24 fiscal during its 31st annual general meeting held on Friday.
Addressing the shareholders, Rath said the financial year ended on a positive note despite loss of operations during the first quarter on account of planned refinery shutdown and an unforeseen incident of fire.
"It is indeed praiseworthy that NRL bounced back with gusto after the initial setback, demonstrating exemplary resilience, perseverance and unwavering commitment of its employees’ performance," the NRL chairman said.
He added that during the 2023-24 financial year, the NRL processed 2,510 TMT of crude oil which is a considerable feat considering that the refinery was recuperating from a valuable quarter lost.