Guwahati, April 8: India and Bangladesh today entered into a business mode in the hydrocarbon sector with Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) deciding to conduct more business with Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) on a continuous basis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina today flagged off a goodwill rail rake consignment, carrying high-speed diesel from NRL's Siliguri marketing terminal to BPC's Parbatipur storage depot in Bangladesh, from New Delhi by pressing a remote control button.

"We will be having regular movement of diesel from now on a continuous basis. One rake every month will go till July and afterwards it will increase to two rakes a month," a senior NRL official told The Telegraph. The rail rake consignment carried 2,284 MT (2,736 KL) of high-speed diesel.

A new rail route has been chalked from Radhikapur in Bengal to Birol in Bangladesh which will reduce the distance by almost half.

Modi said, "We have agreed to finance the diesel oil pipeline from Numaligarh to Parbatipur. Our companies are entering into a long-term agreement for the supply of high-speed diesel to Bangladesh. We have also agreed on a timetable for regular supply till the pipeline is constructed. We are encouraging private sectors in our countries to enter this space. Several agreements for investments in the energy sector in Bangladesh are expected to be signed by the Indian companies in the coming days."

An NRL statement said the present consignment is a symbolic gesture of friendship and cooperation between India and Bangladesh.

During Modi's visit to Bangladesh in June 2015, it was agreed to jointly work towards implementation of this "Indo-Bangla friendship pipeline".

"The export of petroleum products from India to Bangladesh is also in line with the neighbourhood-first policy of the India government to boost bilateral trade between the two countries and sub-regional cooperation within SAARC," the statement said.

"There will be more agreements in the coming days," the NRL official said.

At present, Bangladesh meets its requirement of petroleum products through imports at Chittagong port. The products are subsequently transported to the rest of the country using the river route.

Once the NRL refinery's expansion from 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA is complete, India will be in a position to export petroleum products on a regular and long-term basis to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a net importer of crude oil and petroleum products with minimal domestic production and a majority of the country's petro-products come from Malaysia and Singapore.