Background
Book: Oil India - The Pipeline Saga
Author: Padma Shri Arup Kumar Dutta
Contact
[email protected]
The prestigious corporate book ‘Oil India–The Pipeline Saga’ was launched by Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam in a glittering ceremony held on 01st February 2022 in the Ground floor conference room of Assam Chief Ministers block, Janata Bhawan, Dispur, Guwahati.
The ceremony was graced by Sri. S C Mishra, CMD, Sri. PK Goswami, Director (Ops), Padma Shri Arup Kumar Dutta, Author & Writer, Sri. Bhaskar Jyoti Phukan, MD-NRL, Sri. Ashok Das, ED(HR), Sri. Sandip Goswami, ED(PLS), Sri. Joydev Lahiri, ED(CO), and other senior officials of OIL and Govt. of Assam.
The voluminous book is based on the birth and journey of India’s pioneering cross-country pipeline constructed from Naharkatiya in Upper Assam to Barauni in Bihar over a distance of 1158 km for transporting crude oil produced in the Upper Assam field to newly constructed public sector refineries at Guwahati and Barauni during 1960s.
While releasing the book, the Hon’ble Chief Minister lauded the efforts of OIL for documenting and archiving the legacy of Pipeline history. He also stated that the book would help our aspiring writers/Research fellows/students willing to study the technical aspects of Pipelines and the Hydrocarbon sector of the Northeast. Dr. Sarma stated that the Pipeline, OIL’s technological marvel of 60’s established its superior technology at that point of time which speaks of high-end credentials and capacity building by Oil India Limited during 1960s despite extreme adverse geographical conditions.
Sri Joydev Lahiri, the architect behind the herculean effort, presented a brief including the Pipeline history and on the conceived idea & the efforts gone behind the whole endeavour.
Padma Shri Arup Kumar Dutta, Author of the book expressed his happiness and satisfaction while inscribing the Pipeline history which he stated to be a well-documented marvel. He also offered his appreciation to OIL fraternity, specially the Pipeline department for taking the painstaking effort to preserve the history.
Sri S C Mishra, CMD, OIL congratulated the Pipeline team for creating the archived document. He appreciated each member of the team for putting their untiring efforts and energy while acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices made by the Pipeliners. He further offered his special words for Padma Shri Arup Kumar Dutta for writing the marvellous book. Sri Mishra offered sincere appreciation to Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam for giving his consent and valuable time for the historical ceremony.
Press Release 2
“Oil India – The Pipeline Saga” a legacy book, published by Oil India Limited (OIL), authored
by Shri Arup Kr. Dutta, Padma Shri awardee and noted writer & journalist from Assam, was
ceremoniously released by Dr. Himanata Biswa Sharma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam,
recently at a solemn function held in Guwahati. The book documents heart-rendering stories
of laying of Naharkatya- Barauni pipeline in India commissioned in two phases in 1962 and
1964 in the picturesque landscape traversing 3 states of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.
The 1157 km long pipeline, the ‘Lifeline for North-East Refineries’ has been serving the
nation 24×7 for last 6 decades without any replacement of any segment of the Pipeline till
date and is expected to serve for another 4 to 5 decades.
Based on the 6000+ documents researched, archived, and restored by Social Friendly, the
the book entails fascinating stories of the construction of the pipeline in the 1960s with mammoth
challenges posed by difficult terrains of a large number of forests and protected areas and
having to cross 78 major rivers and that too with very limited technologies available during at that time, Extensive research had to be carried out in laboratories of UK to pump high waxy
crude through the pipeline system and that is how the world’s first Crude Oil Conditioning Plant
(COCP) was commissioned at Duliajan, Assam in 1963. The saga of the pipeline has been
indeed fascinating as it holds the record of attaching the world’s largest 34 channel radio link
established along the entire pipeline route, having facilities of telemetering, teleprinter and
speech transmission. India’s first STD dialing facilities was introduced in 1962 with the help
of this radio link system only. The pipeline also holds the record of using the world’s first crude
oil & gas-driven dual-fuel engines for pumping the oil through the Pipeline.
Laying of this 1157 km long pipeline was initiated from the tiny town of Naharkatiya in the
the state of Assam to evacuate the excess crude oil produced from Digboi field discovered in
1889, Nahorkatiya field was discovered in 1953, and Moran Field was discovered in 1956. This
pipeline holds the record of being Asia’s first 1157 km long fully automated trunk pipeline
commissioned in the 1960s.
OIL’s 1157 KM long Crude Oil Trunk Pipeline running 24×7 since the 1960s and Digboi Oilfield
discovered in 1889, which holds the distinction of being the world’s 2nd discovery of Commercial
Oil and still is under production even after 130 years of discovery, deserve due recognition as
UNESCO’s World Heritage site under mixed category.
