NRL registers highest profit since inception at Rs 3,703 crore

GUWAHATI: The Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has registered the highest-ever Profit After Tax (PAT) since its inception at Rs 3,703 crore as compared to Rs 3,562 crore registered in the last fiscal, chairman R Rath said on Saturday.

In a first, the refinery was also able to achieve capacity utilisation of more than 100 per cent, processing 3,091 TMT of crude oil since its inception, Rath said at the post-AGM press conference after virtually addressing NRL's 30th Annual General Meeting.

The refinery also achieved the highest-ever distillate yield of 87.7 per cent and best-ever specific energy consumption (SEC) of 61.7 MBN, he said.

The company also recorded the highest-ever revenue from operations during the year at Rs 29,786 crore as compared to Rs 23,547 crore the previous year, he pointed out.

The earning per share (EPS) of the company also saw a surge to Rs 25.17 as compared to Rs 24.21 in 2021-22 while the net worth increased to Rs 11,427 crore as on March 31, 2023 as against Rs 8,388 crore the previous year. A final dividend of Rs 235.40 crore for the 2022-23 fiscal was declared during the AGM while the company has already paid an interim dividend of Rs 882.76 crore for the year, thereby the total dividend pay-out is Rs 1,118.16 crore, representing 30.20 per cent of NRL's profit after tax (PAT) for the year.

''The year 2022-23 was a milestone year for the company with record performances on all fronts. This accomplishment has been the fruition of tireless efforts and outstanding achievements in every sphere of NRL's activities in its prolific journey of 30 years,'' Rath said.

Product sales showed an improvement with a total sales of 3,016 TMT as compared to previous year's 2,802 TMT. Sales within the Northeast was 1,259 TMT, which marked an improvement of over 11 per cent from the previous year sales of 1,133 TMT, reflecting an optimistic demand scenario across the Northeast states, Rath pointed out.

Sales during the year also comprised 50 TMT of gas oil exported to Bangladesh, he said.

Following the inauguration of the 'India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL)' and its commissioning earlier this year, Bangladesh is keen to further collaborate in transporting fuel to North Bangladesh, particularly in winter, through waterways while NRL has already penetrated in Bhutan with low pour high speed diesel which is required in high altitudes with low temperature, the company's managing director Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan said. NRL also had plans to enter Myanmar with its products but it has been stalled due to prevailing political situation while Nepal is another country where ''we plan to make an entry with our products in the near future,'' he added. NRL is aggressively executing few significant projects and these include Numaligarh Refinery Expansion Project (NREP), Paradip Numaligarh Crude Oil Pipeline (PNCPL) and Crude Oil Import terminal at Paradip (COIT) and 2G Ethanol Project (JV project), Rath said. During the year, a 360 KTPA Polypropylene project was approved at a cost of Rs 7,231 crore.

''In the next 5 years, NRL plans to invest more than Rs 35,000 crore in completing these projects, which will enable long-term business growth, both in terms of revenue and profit,'' Rath added.