Guwahati, June 24: The Centre will invest Rs 6,000 crore in Assam this fiscal through public sector oil firms and work towards making it a petroleum hub for neighbouring countries, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said here today.
Pradhan, who is on a two-day visit to Assam, met chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and industries and commerce minister Chandra Mohan Patowary for a detailed review of the oil and gas sector in the state and agreed to enhance oil/gas production through various measures.
Tomorrow, he will inaugurate a roadshow on Discovered Small Field Bid Round 2016, where 12 small oil and gas fields in the state will be open to bidding.
Pradhan said Rs 130,000 crore has been allocated for the region under the Hydrocarbon Vision Northeast 2030, of which Rs 80,000 crore would be spent in Assam. The allocation for this fiscal is Rs 6,000 crore, which will be invested for implementing various plans, including setting up new pipelines, expanding capacities and marketing. "We have already started the work," he told reporters here after the meeting.
Pradhan promised to strengthen the oil and gas sector in Assam, which would increase the state's revenue collection from oil manifold. "At present, one-fourth of Assam's revenue comes from the oil sector and our plan is to double and triple it by 2030 through our investment and expansion plans," he said.
He said the Centre would provide all assistance to Assam to make it a petroleum hub for neighbouring countries. "I would like to see Assam meeting all the requirements of its neighbouring countries," he said.
The Hydrocarbon Vision Northeast 2030 plan says the total demand for all petroleum products in the Northeast is around 3.2 MMTPA. The proposed expansion along with the existing refinery capacity will see the region having more capacity than demand. Already a net exporter of petroleum products, India can utilise this excess capacity to service demand in the neighbouring countries. The government has drawn up a plan to raise the capacity of the four refineries in Assam from 7.5 MMTPA at present to 16 MMTPA, Pradhan said.
For the refinery expansion plans, the government plans to import crude from Nigeria to feed Assam's refineries.
"The refineries will need more crude in future in view of expansion plans. We plan to import crude from Nigeria and West Africa to feed them. The crude will be imported to Paradip port via sea and then will be brought to the state via Barauni in Bihar," Pradhan said.
He urged the state government to relax entry tax on imported crude to help the refineries grow.
Numaligarh Refinery Limited is planning to expand its capacity from 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA by 2020 and has already started exporting diesel to Bangladesh and wax to Nepal. Pradhan said the wax produced by NRL was of excellent quality. NRL plans to establish a bio-refinery at Numaligarh for production of bioethanol from bamboo by 2018.
Pradhan said a 5,000km grid of crude pipeline, product pipeline, LPG pipeline and natural gas pipeline would be constructed in the region. Besides, there will be addition in storage capacity.
He said the Centre wants to procure gas from Russia and he had visited the country recently. We are considering probable routes to bring the gas.
It can be brought to Agartala through Chittagong port in Bangladesh and then transferred to other parts of the region.
Pradhan said his ministry had agreed to the Assam government's request for allotment of more natural gas to Namrup and Lakwa power plants which are being renovated.
Sonowal said he had assured support to oil companies by way of clearances.
Pradhan also promised to help the Assam government claim its due oil royalty of Rs 1,450 crore from OIL and ONGC. "We have resolved to help the Assam government to start the legal process to get their share of royalty. I had told former chief minister Tarun Gogoi to approach the court regarding the payment," he said.
