Guwahati: Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) on Friday claimed 45 per market share of indigenous wax in the country.

D. Rajkumar, chairman and managing director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and chairman of NRL, said at the 25th annual general meeting that the company had maintained its position as the leading marketer of paraffin wax in the country with above 45 per cent market share of indigenous wax and had also reached the markets of more than 24 countries.

On the financial front, NRL recorded the highest ever revenue from operations of Rs 15,923 crore in 2017-18, registering a growth of 14.17 per cent over the previous year. Profit after tax was marginally lower at Rs 2,042 crore over the previous year.

An official pointed out the opportunity of marketing wax to ASEAN countries.

On the physical front, NRL processed 2,809 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) of crude oil in 2017-18, achieving a capacity utilisation of 93 per cent.

The marketing performance was good too with the company recording its highest ever sales of 2,912 TMT during the year, surpassing the previous high of 2,728 TMT in 2011-12. Motor spirit sales reached an all-time high of 638 TMT.

Sale of high-speed diesel was recorded at 1,841 TMT while wax sales was 46 TMT, including export of 7 TMT to 24 countries.

The company also exported 25 TMT gas oil (diesel) to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation at Parbatipur from its terminal at Siliguri.

Rajkumar said the company would continue to perform par excellence and deliver results beyond expectation.

The company's plans for refinery expansion from 3 MMTPA (million metric tonne per annum) to 9 MMTPA, a part of Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for the North East, is under active consideration of the Centre.

Plans for implementing first-of-its-kind bio-refinery with bamboo as feedstock have taken definite shape with a joint venture company, Assam Bio-Refinery Pvt Ltd, incorporated in June with equity participation from NRL, M/s Fortum 3BV, Netherland, and M/s Chempolis Oy, Finland.

In another development, a joint venture company, Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited, was incorporated in August with equal participation of NRL, IOCL, ONGC, OIL and GAIL for implementation of the Northeast natural gas grid pipeline. This project will connect all the states of the region to the national gas grid through Barauni-Guwahati gas pipeline being laid by GAIL.