The two tank trucks containing 40 kilo litres of high speed diesel were flagged off from Moreh, the border town in Manipur to Tamu in Myanmar (Source: Google Maps)
One day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to Myanmar, public-sector Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in Assam commenced export of high speed diesel to the neighbouring country, with the first consignment of two tank trucks crossing the Indo-Myanmar border at Moreh on Monday.
The two tank trucks containing 40 kilo litres of high speed diesel were flagged off from Moreh, the border town in Manipur to Tamu in Myanmar, in the presence of senior officials of the NRL and Land Customs department of both countries. The consignment was later received by officials of M/s Parami Energy Services Co Ltd, Myanmar, at Tamu, just about six km from the international border. The tank trucks had earlier moved from NRL’s refinery at Numaligarh, about 420 km north of Moreh in Assam.
An NRL official said Monday’s historic export of petroleum products from India by the land route was one step forward in the Act East Policy that had come through following the visit of petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Myanmar in February this year. Numaligarh Refinery Ltd had earlier signed a Sale-Purchase Agreement with Parami Energy Services Co Ltd for supply of 90 MT of diesel through the Moreh-Tamu Land Custom Station to Myanmar.
“Success of this trial consignment will pave the way for further business with customers in Myanmar. NRL plans to export 5,000 MT of HSD per month to Myanmar through tank lorries,” the official said.
NRL was also exploring the possibility of laying a pipeline to export diesel to Myanmar at a later stage, the official said. “A product pipeline has been proposed from Numaligarh to Imphal in the North East Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 released by the government of India last year. The proposed pipeline could be extended to Moreh after NRL’s refinery capacity is increased from the present 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA,” the official said.
Myanmar is the second country after Bangladesh where NRL has exported diesel in the recent past. A good-will rake consignment of 2284 MT diesel was flagged off by the prime ministers of India and Bangladesh on April 8 through remote device from NRL’s marketing terminal in Siliguri to Parbatipur in Bangladesh.
