May 28, 2012. India's fire-damaged 60,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Numaligarh refinery is in the process of being restarted and is expected to be fully operational in 2-3 days. The refinery's planned maintenance was brought forward from the end of April to mid-April after a fire broke out at a 22,000 bpd hydrocracker unit at the refinery in Assam, northeast India on April 7. The shutdown was initially expected to last about 20 days but was extended to about 45 days, though the reason is unclear. The refinery has been running at an average rate of 94.2 percent this year, its highest throughput in its history, with a distillate yield of 91.52 percent. The refinery is 61.65 percent owned by Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), while the government of Assam and Oil India own the rest. Numaligarh refinery itself does not import oil products, but supplies diesel to the northern parts of India. Following the refinery fire, BPCL imported 185,000 tonnes of diesel for delivery in April and May, with part of the imports to re-direct stocks to north India.