Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma inaugurated the Liaison Office of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) today in Dhaka in presence of Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan, the company's Managing Director, and Md. Tipu Sultan, MD of Meghna Petroleum Ltd.

In his remarks, High Commissioner Pranay Verma said that India and Bangladesh have made unprecedented progress in advancing relations between our two countries in the last decade. One of the key manifestations of that transformation, he said, is the growth in bilateral trade and economic engagement and connectivity links. He further said that collaboration in the Power & Energy sector has become one of the hallmarks of this all-encompassing relationship and the Friendship Pipeline is a testament to the growing partnership in this important sector.

The Friendship Pipeline Project, which was jointly inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh virtually on 18 March 2023, is the first cross-border pipeline for supply of petroleum products to Bangladesh. This pipeline has a capacity to transport One Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum (MMTPA) of High-Speed Diesel and has been completed at a total estimated cost of over INR 375 Crore, of which, over INR 285 Crore has been spent for construction of the Bangladesh portion of the pipeline under a Government of India grant.

Since the inauguration of the pipeline last year, 42 TMT of diesel with a total value of USD 34 million (INR 282 crore) has been exported to Bangladesh. With the completion of the pipeline, cross-border supply of High-Speed Diesel is being done faster and more economically with a minimal carbon footprint putting in place a sustainable, reliable and cost-effective way of transporting High-Speed Diesel to Bangladesh.

The High Commissioner was happy to note that the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has taken ownership of the pipeline and is now operating the pipeline with the last four consignments of High-Speed Diesel through the pipeline having been managed by them independently.

The High Commissioner said that with the inauguration of the liaison office, NRL would be able to more effectively explore such collaborations with the Bangladesh authorities in the future for supply petroleum products.