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 mechanicalcommissioning.

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.