OIL acquires majority shares in Assam’s Numaligarh Refinery Limited

Oil India Limited now has 80.16% stakes in the Numaligarh Refinery, often referred to as Assam Accord Refinery as its establishment was one of the conditions of the 1985 Assam Accord.

A ‘local’ oil exploration has acquired more than 80% stakes in an Assam refinery which germinated in an anti-foreigners movement more than 40 years ago. Oil India Limited (OIL), the country’s second largest public sector hydrocarbon exploration and production corporation, said its acquisition of majority shares of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has been a strategic business decision to partially mitigate the effect of volatility of crude price cycle. On March 25, a consortium of OIL, Engineers India Limited and the Assam government bought the entire 61.5% stake of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited in NRL. The exploration major bought 54.16% stakes to raise its shareholding in the refinery to 80.16%.