It was initially decided that IBP would have a 51 per cent stake in the three million tonne per annum (mtpa) Numaligarh Refinery. But with time the shareholding pattern has changed. Now, BPCL has the largest shareholding of 32 per cent followed by IBP's 19 per cent and Assam government's 10 per cent in the form of landed property.

Two other public sector companies -- Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) -- may also pick up stake in this refinery, the largest in the north-eastern region. Numaligarh has a debt-equity ratio of 3:1.Mathur, who is also on the Numaligarh Refinery board, said 95 per cent of the work has already been completed and the remaining will be finished before the mechanical commissioning. Initially,the refinery will run at half of its rated capacity and there will be efforts to achieve full capacity as early as possible. The crude required for the refinery will be sourced from oil wells located in Assam. Despite the fact that Assam wells are drying up, Mathur believes that the refinery will get uninterrupted supply once the Barauni refinery of Indian Oil Corporation in Bihar, which has been sourcing crude from Assam, starts importing it through Haldia Port via the Haldia-Barauni crude pipeline. The pipeline will be commissioned in 1999.

Also, the 1.35m tpa Bongaigaon Refinery in Assam will bring imported crude using the existing product pipeline by reverse pumping method.

Therefore, the pressure on Assam crude will ease with the requirement coming down to only 5 mtpa to feed the 0.9 mtpa Guwahati refinery and the 0.6 mtpa Digboi refinery apart from Numaligarh.

Moreover, the people and the government of Assam have extended full support to the project and this will also help ensure uninterruptedsupply of crude, Mathur pointed out.

On the marketing of Numaligarh's finished products, he said the refinery will move a large part of its products by road. It is also keen to use waterways for the purpose. "Talks are on with the Bangladesh government for using its waterways to send products to Bangladesh and to southern parts of West Bengal. We are optimistic about a positive outcome soon," Mathur said. If it materialises, barges carrying finished products could be sent from Numaligarh to various parts of Bangladesh and to Budge Budge near Calcutta, where IBP has itw own installations.