Imphal, Sep. 4 (IANS): Assam’s Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) on Monday commenced export of High Speed Diesel to Myanmar, an official said.
An NRL spokesman said that two tankers carrying 40 kilolitres of the fuel were flagged off by NRL’s Director, Finance, S.K. Barua on Monday from Manipur’s Moreh town to Myanmar’s Tamu, where the consignment will be received by officials of Parami Energy Services Co. Ltd (PES).
Earlier the tankers were dispatched from NRL’s Marketing Terminal in Numaligarh to reach Moreh via Imphal.
The NRL establishment refinery is situated at a distance of 420 km from Moreh-Tamu border crossing connected by Asian Highway I.
“This is further to signing of sale purchase agreement between NRL and PES for supply of 90 MT of Diesel (Gas Oil) from Numaligarh Refinery Marketing Terminal (NRMT) through Moreh-Tamu Land Custom Station to Myanmar,” the NRL spokesman said. “Success of this trial consignment will pave the way for further business with PES and other such customers in Myanmar. NRL plans to export 5,000 MT of HSD per month to Myanmar through tankers,” he added.
The spokesman however said that the NRL is also exploring the possibility of laying a pipeline to export diesel at a later stage. “A product pipeline has been proposed from Numaligarh to Imphal in the North East Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 released by the government of India last year. The proposed pipeline could be extended to Moreh post expansion of NRL’s Refinery capacity from present 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA,” he added.
The NRL is also looking at opportunities for entering into the retail business of petroleum products in Myanmar. Export to Myanmar will a win-win situation for both the countries. Present demand of petrol and diesel in Myanmar is around 3 MMTPA, while it has three small refineries which together produce 0.7 MMTPA and the balance is imported, mainly from Thailand and Singapore.
