Guwahati, Feb. 7: The first shipment of paraffin wax exported by Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) is scheduled to reach its destination in Nepal tomorrow.

The wax was shipped on Friday, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated NRL's new wax plant to the nation.

A senior NRL official said 15 metric tonnes of wax should reach Kathmandu by tomorrow if there are no road blockades. "The total contract was of 60 metric tonnes and it is a good start for us," the official said.

The company says their wax plant is designed to produce superior-quality paraffin and semi-microcrystalline wax and is a worthy manifestation of the Make in India campaign of the Centre.

The official said the order has been placed by a trader in Nepal, who used to import wax from China and Iran.

The North East Hydrocarbon Vision Document 2030, which will be released by petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday here, has stated in its draft report that the region can be developed as a wax hub by promoting the candle manufacturing industry in the region. Currently, NRL is the largest wax producing unit in the country.

Proximity with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan will ensure a ready market for export for the candles made in the small-scale industries in the Northeast, the document states.

Currently, a major part of the country's annual demand for paraffin wax, along with the entire demand for microcrystalline wax, is being met through imports. NRL's wax plant will minimise the supply deficit in the domestic market substantially, thus reducing imports. Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) Digboi refinery and Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, a group company of IOC, also produce paraffin wax in India.

NRL had signed an agreement with Nepal-based Birat Petroleum Private Limited (BPPL) in 2014 at Kathmandu for sale of motor spirit and high-speed diesel (HSD) but, according to sources, the supply has still not started owing to various reasons.

The refinery's product range includes LPG, naphtha, motor spirit, aviation turbine fuel, superior kerosene, high-speed diesel, raw petroleum coke, calcined petroleum coke and sulphur.

Most of these products are sold in markets outside the region.

The company is also trying to lay a 135km product pipeline from its terminal at Siliguri to Parbatipur in Bangladesh to facilitate sustained export of motor spirit and high-speed diesel.