Date:20/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/03/20/stories/2006032001320602.htm

Back On barge to Bangladesh

NUMALIGARH REFINERY.

If everything proceeds as per schedule, Numaligarh refinery in Assam should shortly start exporting high speed diesel by barges to Bangladesh and a Kolkata-based private barge company will be the sole Indian participant in the proposed movement. An estimated 10,000 tonnes of HSD is proposed to be moved by barge every month from Silghat on the bank of the Brahamaputra river to Sirajganj in Bangladesh and, as per the protocol signed between the two countries, the Indian barge company can handle only half the traffic, leaving the balance for the Bangladeshi flag carriers to handle.

For the past few months, Numaligarh refinery has been sending by barges HSD to Budge Budge oil jetty under the Kolkata Dock System. About 7,000 tonnes in five shipments have been sent so far. Once exports by barges to Bangladesh start, the barge movement to Budge Budge may be discontinued, it is learnt. Meanwhile, Indian Oil Corporation too is believed to be planning to send by barges an estimated of 10,000 tonnes of HSD every month from Haldia to Khulna in Bangladesh.

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