NRL posts “highest ever” revenue in FY19, net profit down

Guwahati, Aug. 16 (PTI): Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) on Friday reported a 3.7 per cent year-on-year decline in standalone net profit to INR 1,968 crore during the 2018-19 fiscal.

The company, however, had posted “the highest ever revenue” for the year.

North East India’s largest refiner, recorded “the highest ever revenue from operations of INR 18,511 crore during 2018-19 (FY 19), registering a growth of 16.25 per cent over previous year, NRL Chairman D Rajkumar said, while addressing the company’s 26th Annual General Meeting here on Friday.

He said net worth of the company at the end of 2018-19 (FY19) reached INR 5,551 crore, signifying strong economic fundamentals.

The company declared a total dividend of Rs 17 per share for FY19, said Rajkumar, who is also Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

NRL’s contribution to the central and state exchequers in the form of taxes, duties and dividends during the last fiscal was INR 4,159 crore, he said.

”NRL is the rising star of the North East and I see a great future for the company as one of the front ranking global energy companies”, Rajkumar said.

The FY19 was a “landmark year” as the centre had given its formal approval in January 2019 for enhancing NRL’s capacity from existing three million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa) to nine mmtpa at a project cost exceeding INR 22,000 crore, the company’s Managing Director S K Barua said.

This would be the “highest ever investment” in North East India so far, he said.

The project includes simultaneous laying of over 2,000 km of pipeline for transporting imported crude oil from Paradeep port in Odisha to Numaligarh and then to facilitate evacuation of products from Numaligarh to Siliguri in West Bengal, making NRL an active player in the midstream section.

”We realise the challenges ahead as we embark on implementing the mega project. However, we are confident that with the unstinted support of all our stakeholders including the central and state government, our business partners and well wishers, we will be able to successfully complete the project,” he said.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has 61.65 per cent stake in NRL, while Oil India and Assam government have 26 per cent and 12.35 per cent holding respectively.