25-06-2012

NRL Football Academy Launched

	NRL MD Shri Dipak Chakravarty formally inaugurating the NRL Football Academy by handing over a football to Mr. Oscar Bruzon Barrears, the Technical Director of the Academy in presence of DC Golaghat, AFA Secretary, GM (HR) and senior officials of NRL..

22-04-2012

20th Foundation Day of NRL celebrated

	NRL Day pledge being taken by employees at Registered Office, Guwahati

The Conference Hall, sponsored by the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd., is meant to facilitate small gatherings with a seating capacity of thirty. The Conference Hall was inaugurated by Shri Dipak Chakravarty, Managing Director, NRL, in the presence of Mananeeya Shri A. Balakrishnanji, Vice President, Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari and Shri Dipok Kr. Barthakur, Chairman, VKIC.

	NRL Conference hall in VKIC, Guwahati inaugurated

Addressing the gathering, Sri Dipak Chakravarty said that for the NRL, corporate social responsibility is not something imposed; it is a duty discharged from the heart. The association with the Vivekananda Kendra dates back to 1997 when the NRL was being set up and the Management was keen that value-oriented service is needed not only in the township but in the environs especially in the field of health. The Kendra responded and the NRL appreciates the dedication and selflessness of the Vivekananda Kendra, he said. With the inauguration of the conference hall, he looked forward to the association with the VKIC, he said.

Earlier on the occasion, Shri Pauranikji, Principal, Veda Vidyalaya consecrated the NRL conference Hall and Shri Dipok Kr. Barthakur delivered the Welcome Address.

NRL climbed a few notches higher on the technological trajectory by implementing the Vehicle tracking system for Tank Trucks(TT) carrying NRL products from the its terminals located near the Refinery and at Siliguri to its various Retail outlets. This modern software system has been implemented in association with M/s Microtechnologies India Pvt. Ltd.

	-

The NRL VTS website was officially launched on 23rd Feb’ 2012 by Mr. A. K Bhattacharya, GM (Marketing, BD and CP) at NRL Guwahati Marketing office. The VTS was installed on all 111 nos. of TTs presently running at NRMT and 3 TTs at SMT.

The Vehicle Tracking System is a web based application that can be browsed with secure authentication. The VTS shall help users to track real time details of their vehicles on maps provided in the application. Users can view their vehicles and can monitor their performance on map. The product is aimed to cater to a large fleet of Tank trucks owned by NRL and would be used to monitor the movement of the vehicles. The product has a special module for Live Vehicle Tracking that allows the NRL authorized users to view the movement or activities of their vehicles. The vehicle tracking is done through GPS and GSM/GPRS network. The system will give exception alerts on unauthorized halts. User can get information about current location of vehicle. User can also generate various MIS reports. Alerts like Email/SMS can be escalated as set for the Transit, Stoppage, Speed Violation, Geofence Violation, Destination Arrival, and No GPS.

US Ambassador to India, Mr. Peter A Burleigh along with his entourage visited Numaligarh Refinery on 21-02-2012 as part of his trip to the region for exploring investment opportunities in the region. Ambassador Burleigh was accompanied by Consul General Dean R. Thompson and members of staff from the US Consulate General at Kolkata.

	US Ambassador Mr. Peter A Burleigh interacting with NRL officials at Numaligarh

Upon arrival at the Refinery, the US delegation was accorded a warm welcome by Director ( Technical) NRL, Mr. S.R. Medhi and senior officials of the Company. Thereafter, the team was taken on a brief tour to the Refinery where they were familiarized with various plant units including the state of the art Hydrocracker unit which runs on technology imported from M/s Chevron, USA. The Ambassador interacted with senior officials of the company at the Conference hall of the Admin Building. A presentation covering various facets of NRL was made to the visiting delegation. Thereafter, deliberations on the possible areas of collaboration specially in the field of technology transfer was held where valuable inputs and information were exchanged between the visiting delegation and NRL officials .

The team was also taken to the Butterfly Valley-the unique eco system comprising of a diverse flora and fauna and rare species of butterflies located within the NRL Township premises.
In the visitor’s book, Mr. Burleigh commented , ‘ Thanks for an extremely interesting introduction and tour. And congratulations on such and efficient and well-managed entity. We are also impressed with your ecological and environmental record .. and focus. And I am delighted that so much Chevron technology and equipment is utilized here. Best wishes for further advances and expansion’.

NRL completed 10 years of Loss Time Accident (LTA) free operations today i. e the 18th of February, 2012. This implies that the Company has completed 10 years without any loss time accident. This is an outstanding Safety achievement and a major milestone for an Oil Company which is vulnerable to various kinds of safety hazards. Achieving this extraordinary distinction manifests itself as an ample reflection of the robust safety Management Systems in place in NRL and the true spirit in which it is implemented wholeheartedly by all employees and stakeholders viz. contractors, suppliers, contract workmen alike. MD NRL, Mr. Dipak Chakravarty congratulated all employees on achieving this incredible distinction.
NRL has always been a frontrunner in achieving appreciable achievements in the field of safety and has won many National recognitions in the form of awards and accolades for achieving distinction in Safety Management. Recently, the Company was awarded the ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ in the Manufacturing sector by the National Safety Council of India, the apex body under the Government of India formed to generate, develop and sustain a voluntary movement on Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) at the national level.

NRL wins Greentech Environment Award 2011

	-

NRL recently bagged the Greentech Environment Award 2011 in ‘Gold Category’ in recognition of its contribution towards preserving and conserving the environment by adopting the best environment management systems and practices and implementing innovative initiatives thereby providing an impetus to the continual process of environment protection. Instituted by M/s Greentech Foundation in association with Department of Public Enterprises, this coveted award recognizes the leadership excellence achieved by companies in the field of Environment Management.
In a glittering award ceremony at Srinagar, the coveted award was presented to NRL officials by Mr. R.H. Khwaja, IAS, Secretary Tourism, Govt. of India and Mr. Kamaleshwar Sharan, President, Greentech Foundation.

NRL PAYS RS. 13.62 CRORES AS DIVIDEND FOR 2010-11 TO GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM

	Cheque of Rs. 13.62 crores being handed over to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Tarun Gogoi by NRL MD, Mr. Dipak Chakravarty in presence of Shri H.S. Das, Commissioner and Secretary, Industries and Commerce Deptt, Govt. of Assam and NRL officials.

Numaligarh Refinery Limited has paid an amount of Rs. 13.62 crores as dividend for the financial year 2010-11 to the Govt. of Assam for its equity holding of 12.35% in the Company. The dividend cheque was formally handed over to Shri Tarun Gogoi, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam by Mr. Dipak Chakravarty, Managing Director NRL on 19-10-11 at the Chief Minister’s official residence at Guwahati . Also present on the occasion were Shri H.S Das, Principal Secretary( Finance), Govt. of Assam and senior officials of NRL.

The resolution of declaring a dividend of 15% to NRL shareholders for the year 2010-11 was adopted in the 19th Annual General meeting of the Company held on 09-09-11 at Guwahati. Other than the dividend amount, the contribution by NRL to the Assam Govt. Exchequer during the year was to the tune of Rs. 263 crores .

It may be mentioned that during the year 2010-11, NRL achieved a record sales turnover of Rs. 8,972 crores recording a growth of 13.9% over previous year’s turnover of Rs. 7,874 crores.

NRL signs MoU with Transparency International India(TII) for implementation of Integrity pact

	NRL signs MoU

NRL today signed an MoU with Transparency International India (TII) to implement an ‘Integrity pact’ with its business partners viz. suppliers and contractors of goods and services. This is a step towards further strengthening and formalising the existing practices of fair and transparent dealings between the company and its suppliers ,contractors and customers. The MoU was formally signed by NRL MD Mr. Dipak Chakravarty and Transparency International India Chairman, Mr. P S Bawa, in presence of Director(Finance) NRL, Mr. N Bhakta; Director TII Mr. A Mishra; Independent External monitors nominated by CVC- Mr. Bhaskar Barua, IAS (Rtd.) and Mr. B K Gogoi Ex-CMD BRPL; vendors’ representatives and senior officials of NRL in the Corporate Office of the company at Guwahati. It is pertinent to mention that NRL is the 41st company in India to enter into such an MoU with TII for implementation of integrity pact.

As part of its business cycle, NRL does business with a number of domestic and international bidders, contractors and suppliers of goods and services. While doing so, NRL is committed to fostering the most ethical and corruption free business environment in all its dealings.

Transparency International India (TII) is the accredited India chapter of Transparency International, an international civil society organisation based at Berlin that has turned the fight against corruption into a worldwide movement. TII is part of the Asia Pacific forum comprising 20 nations that include China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives and others. TII is a non-government, non-party and not-for-profit organisation of Indian citizens with professional, social, industrial or academic experience seeking to promote transparent and ethical governance and to eradicate corruption with a vision to create a corruption-free India, so that the poor do not lose their voice to corruption and a mission to lead and support a committed effort to improve transparency and accountability by eradicating corruption through widening of knowledge and catalyzing action. The priority areas of its engagement is
good governance, research, capacity building, communication and advocacy,
participatory monitoring, engaging with Government, private sector and NGOs

This is yet another initiative taken by NRL in its pursuit of adopting the best Corporate governance practices. NRL approached TII voluntarily for signing of the integrity pact which they acceded. A two member panel of independent external monitors comprising of Mr. Bhaskar Barua, IAS (Retd.), Ex-Secy, M/o Agriculture and Cooperative and Mr. B.K.Gogoi, Ex-CMD , Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. who have been nominated by the Central Vigilance Commission will oversee/monitor the implementation of the integrity pact and its effectiveness. DGM(Commercial) NRL Mr. D. Choudhury has been appointed the nodal officer in NRL to facilitate interactions between NRL and TII.

US Commercial Consul visits NRL Corporate office

	Mr. Richard R Craig, Commercial Consul of US Consulate General, Kolkata( 5th from left); NRL MD Mr. Dipak Chakravarty ( 6th from left) along with senior US consulate and NRL officials at NRL Corporate Office

Mr. Richard R Craig, Commercial Consul of United States Consulate General, Kolkata along with his delegation visited NRL Corporate office at Guwahati on 22-09-2011 as part of his trip to the region for exploring investment opportunities in Assam and the North East.
Mr. Dipak Chakravarty, MD NRL greeted the US Commercial Consul and his team upon their arrival. A detailed presentation covering various facets of NRL was made by Manager (Corporate Communications) NRL, Ms. M A Choudhury to the visiting delegation, which was followed by the screening of the NRL Corporate film.

Thereafter, deliberations on the possible areas of collaboration in the oil sector was held where valuable inputs and information were exchanged between the visiting delegation and NRL officials .
In the visitor’s book, Mr. Craig commented , ‘ Thank you for the excellent overview and interactive discussion. We look forward to being in closer contact’

	NRL Board of Directors during the 18th AGM of NRL held at the Company’s Registered office in Guwahati on 09-09-2011

The 18th Annual General Meeting of NRL was held at NRL’s registered office at G.S Road, Guwahati on Friday, the 9th of September, 2011 where a dividend of 15% (`.1.50 per equity share) for the year 2010-11 on the paid up share capital was declared. The Meeting was presided over by Sri R.K.Singh, Chairman and Managing Director Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Chairman, NRL and was attended by Mr. Dipak Chakravarty, Managing Director, NRL and other members of the NRL Board.

During the year 2010-11, NRL achieved a record sales turnover of ` 8,972 crores recording a growth of 13.9% over previous year’s turnover of `. 7,874 crores. The Gross Refining Margin (GRM) during 2010-11 also increased to $15.39 per bbl compared to $11.19 per bbl during 2009-10 which also compares favourably with other refineries in the country. The Company’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) was recorded at `.415 crores , a 14.6 % increase over last year’s figure of Rs. 362 crores. Net profit at `. 279 crores rose by 20.3% over last year’s corresponding figure of Rs. 232 crores. The total dividend to be paid by NRL for the FY 2010-11 to its shareholders, namely M/s BPCL, M/s OIL and Govt of Assam would amount to `. 110.34 crores. Govt. of Assam shall receive ` 13.62 crores as dividend for its equity of 12.35% in NRL. During the year, NRL contributed `. 792 crores to the Central Exchequer while contribution to the Assam Govt. Exchequer was to the tune of `. 263 crores .

On the physical front , in the year 2010-11, Numaligarh Refinery processed 2.25 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of crude oil. Distillate Yield (yield of high value liquid petroleum products) of NRL during 2010-11 was recorded at 84.7% . By virtue of adopting advanced technologies such as extreme high pressure-temperature hydrocracking, NRL’s Distillate Yield is one of the highest amongst refineries in the country. The refinery’s Specific Energy Consumption, a measure of energy efficiency in operation, during 2010-11 was recorded at 69.0 MBN. The refinery also sustained its impeccable safety performance by registering ‘Nil’ record of major fire/ LTA(Loss Time Accident) during the financial year 2010-11 and cumulatively achieved more than 9 years of accident free operations.

On retail marketing front, NRL’s per pump throughput (PPT) during 2010-11 was 270 KL per month in the North East and 252 KL per month on all-India basis. NRL’s retail market share in North East has reached 13%.Significantly, more than 90% of NRL’s retail sales are through outlets certified by M/s DNV against stringent Quality & Quantity protocols.

For long term sustenance and growth, NRL continues to pursue several value added projects. During the year, NRL implemented the prestigious Diesel Quality Upgradation project within the approved project cost of `.435 crores making it the first refinery in the State to produce Euro-IV grade High Speed Diesel conforming to the stringent parameters laid down by the Auto fuel policy of the Govt. of India. Besides, NRL was also the first amongst other refineries in the State to produce Euro-IV Motor Spirit (Petrol). With this, NRL’s product mix includes both Euro-III and Euro-IV MS and HSD. Various other modernization and value addition projects related to operational energy improvement and environmental upgradation were commissioned by the company during the year. On completion of the Duliajan-Numaligarh Natural Gas Pipeline implemented by M/s DNP Limited, NRL has now started utilizing Natural gas by replacing the Naphtha into the refinery for power generation and hydrogen production, thereby improving energy efficiency and curtailing environmental emissions. In the pursuit of implementing CDM( Clean Development Mechanism) projects , the company has initiated action for registering the aforesaid initiative with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC) as a CDM Project which is expected to generate carbon credits to the tune of 43 TMT annum and would also help improving the company’s refining margin. Another manifestation of the refinery’s environment friendliness was the installation of the latest LED (Light Emitting Diode) based Online Display Board for Environment Monitoring at the Main Entrance of the Refinery premises. With the launching of this facility, NRL displays online real time data of almost 50 important vital environment parameters such as treated effluent, stack emissions & ambient air quality which are now available 24x 7 in public domain.

The company is now steadily moving ahead with two ambitious value added projects, namely the Wax Project and the Naphtha Splitter Project. The `.577 crores Wax project envisages production of high value low volume Paraffin and Micro-Crystalline Wax utilizing inherent properties of North East Crude. The Rs. 60 crores Naphtha Splitter Unit would produce 160 TMT annually of petrochemical grade Naphtha, which would to be supplied as feedstock to the Assam Gas Cracker Project.

While the company moves forward to achieve new milestones and goals, it has remained proactive in promoting and executing schemes for the socio economic development of the region under its CSR policy. The primary focus areas remains education with special attention on the education of the girl child; Community health; providing clean drinking water and sanitation facilities for the local populace; promoting entrepreneurship amongst the local unemployed youth through skill development programs and promotion of arts, sports and culture in the State . To ensure the effectiveness of its CSR schemes , surveys and social audits are carried out periodically through independent NGOs so that the companies CSR policies are on the right track.

As in the previous years, Numaligarh Refinery Limited has come forward with financial help for taking up various welfare works and relief operations by the State machinery. The Company has contributed an amount of Rs. 20.00 lakhs to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, Assam for the cause of victims of the floods that has gripped the State. The cheque was formally handed over to Shri Tarun Gogoi, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam by MD NRL , Mr. Dipak Chakravarty at Guwahati on 06-08-11 in presence of Principal Secretary( Finance), Govt. of Assam, Mr. H.S Das; Director( Finance) NRL Mr. Nilmoni Bhakta and senior officials of NRL.

Keeping up with its reputation as an learning organisation with a penchant for adopting and assimilating the latest in technogy, NRL recently adopted the state-of-the-art ‘Integrated Access Control System’ . The facility was formally launched by MD NRL , Mr. Dipak Chakravarty at the Numaligarh Refinery. This latest technology will facilitate automatic monitoring & control of movement of employees, visitors, contractors & workers within the Refinery and Marketing Terminal premises of NRL. Supplied, installed and commissioned by M/s. Firepro Systems, Bangalore the system is equipped with sophisticated turnstiles imported from Alvarado, Canada, driven by HID Smarti Controllers and powered by HID Smarti Software. The system will have a built-in Time & Attendance Management, Visitor Management and Security & Gate Pass Management besides Access Control. This advanced facility shall augment the security administration of the Refinery & Marketing Terminal being provided by CISF.
Speaking at the inauguration, MD NRL Mr. Chakravarty emphasized on the need for maintaining this sophisticated system effectively on a long term basis, besides providing his valuable suggestions for future improvement. Director (Finance), NRL Mr. Nilmoni Bhakta also graced the occasion and rendered his valuable suggestions. The inaugural function was largely attended by NRL officials and employees in presence of Mr. S R Medhi, Mr. Dhananjoy Ghosh, Mr. M R Baruah, Mr. A K Bhattacharya & Mr. Bruno Ekka, the General Managers of NRL.
With the launching of this facility, NRL will now be able to manage automatic Head Count inside the installation, tracking of movement of people, time punching, record of all entry exit data, etc. This will go a long way to fulfill the comprehensive access control and security administration of the Refinery and the adjacent Marketing Terminal.

NRL has achieved yet another feat in its endeavour towards adopting the latest in technological know-how and best practices worldwide. An online Monitoring and Diagnostic system for reliability enhancement of Make Up Gas Compressors and Off gas Compressors of the state-of-the-art Hydrocracker Unit of the refinery was formally inaugurated by MD NRL Mr. Dipak Chakravarty recently in presence of senior officials of the company. This system is designed and supplied by M/s Prognost Systems GMBH, Germany in collaboration with M/s Burckhardt Compression (I) Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Narsimha Rao, Managing Director of Burckhardt Compression (I) Pvt. Ltd. also graced the inauguration ceremony.

With this, NRL becomes the first PSU refinery in the country to adopt this latest global technology by implementing the system in retrofit mode. The 3 make-up gas compressors and 2 off-gas compressors of the Hydro-cracker Unit of Numaligarh Refinery which was commissioned about 12 years back had the most efficient state-of-the-art technology built into it. However, ‘On line monitoring for compressors’ at that time was still in its nascent stage and therefore was not inbuilt into the system as it is now.

This facility will certainly increase productivity, safety, unplanned outages and in the long run maintenance cost of the compressors which are the main equipment in running of a refinery. Also, from earlier failure analysis, number of costly turn-around jobs can be avoided since the condition of the critical compressor components viz rider rings, piston rings, piston rods, valves, crosshead, all bearings etc will be known well in advance. This would also cut down the likelihood of catastrophic failures of this critical equipment which leads to negative ramifications in the context of the overall refinery operations. It would also mean multiple benefits in terms of reduced maintenance cost of compressor leading to reduced working expenditure because of less spare part inventory and enhanced machine life in addition to lesser man-hours involvement for maintenance activities.

Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Tool is an add on facility that improves compressor reliability, adds to its value which is very important in today’s competitive scenario and stringent competitive market scenario. NRL which has always patronized new, clean and value added technology, took all initiatives to implement this technology to reap the benefit to improve reliability of their critical Reciprocating Compressors, the moment this technology was proven reliable elsewhere globally.

MD NRL, Mr. Dipak Chakravarty delivered a presentation at the triennial symposium organized by Global Oil Major and technology provider, M/s. Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) at San Francisco, California, USA in the first week of June’2011. Mr. Chakravarty was invited as a domain specialist to deliver a presentation on NRL’s Hydrocracker Unit Revamp under Diesel Quality Upgradation Project (DQUP), which was well received by the delegates. It may be mentioned that the state-of-the-art hydrocracker unit (HCU) of NRL which runs on technology provided by CLG, USA was recently revamped successfully during commissioning of NRL’s prestigious DQUP. The success story of commissioning of this major project was shared by MD in his presentation.

The international symposium was organized by M/s. Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) for their licensees’ world-over with the objective of appraising about the latest developments made in the field of process technology, catalysts and exotic components and also to share industry experiences & best practices. The symposium also provided a platform for the delegates to interact with one another and have discussion on a one-to-one basis on the latest in available technology.

Thai Ambassador visits NRL Corporate office