Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery (NRL), a subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), signed two MoUs for its expansion plan.

The company has inked an MoU with Dhamra Port Company (DPCL) and Cement Corporation of India (CCI).

As per its expansion plan, the company will augment its current three million tpa capacity to nine million tpa in the 12th five year plan, along with a proposed crude oil pipeline with a length of 1,338 km for transportation of imported crude from Dhamra port in Orissa to Numaligarh Refinery, in order to meet the additional crude requirement consequent to refinery expansion.

A Detailed Feasibility Report for the proposed refinery expansion and the related crude oil pipeline are under preparation.

The MoU with DPCL has been signed for carrying out a techno-commercial feasibility study for putting up six million tpa bulk crude oil import facilities by Numaligarh Refinery, as well as one million tpa bulk LPG import facilities by DPCL at Dhamra Port in Orissa in the east coast. DPCL will also build the required jetty facilities along with the associated infrastructure at Dhamra port at its own cost.

As per the MoU signed with CCI, 3,60,000 tpa of Raw Petroleum Coke (RPC), likely to be generated at NRL after its proposed capacity expansion, will be used for generation of power utilising the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology. The power plant, with 75 MW capacity, is proposed to be set up at Bokajan depending on the availability of fuel grade RPC from Numaligarh Refinery and limestone available near Bokajan.