GUWAHATI,July 17 ? A high-level delegation of Myanmar is arriving in the State soon to initiate discussion on import of diesel from the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL). Myanmar is keen to buy diesel from the NRL in order to reduce its transportation cost. Talking to this correspondent, LS Kumar, adviser (marketing) of NRL said that the delegation would come to carry forward its deal with the company. ? Their requirement is one thousand metric tonne (1TMT) per month and we are ready to meet their requirement?, Kumar said over telephone from New Delhi.
With the increasing production in the NRL,the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had given a special approval for transporting up to 10 per cent of its surplus products by road from the North East India. Immediately after the approval, the NRL had given an offer to Myanmar Government to buy diesel through the Moreh-Tamu road. Kumar, who has been pursuing the deal with the Myanmar Government, said that North east India and Myanmar is well connected by the road for which it would be more cost-effective.
It is learnt that Myanmar is now importing a bulk quantity of diesel from Thailand by pipeline, which has become expensive as the country is reeling under severe financial constraints.To reduce the cost,they want to buy diesel from India. Asked whether the NRL had set any time frame to sign the deal,he said ?before signing the deal a lot of formalities are required to be completed and hence they would visit the state to have a dialogue with the NRL officials?.
During 2003-2004,the NRL had processed 2200.06 TMT of crude representing 73.34 per cent capacity utilization and evacuated 1839.68 TMT of products. To solve the evacuation problem,the company and the Oil India Limited (OIL) has signed an MoU to set up a pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri. Asked whether the company had any plan to export its products to other Asian countries, he said ? let the Myanmar chapter takes a final shape. If any proposal comes we will look in to it?.