BPC to procure 1.30 lakh tonnes of diesel from India
BPC officials said the whole consignment of the fuel would come through the cross-border pipeline from India’s Numaligarh refinery
The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has planned to procure 1.30 lakh tonnes of diesel from India to meet the fuel demands of the country's northwestern regions, said BPC chairman M Amin Ul Ahsan today (14 January).
"We have planned to import diesel from India's Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) at an estimated cost of Tk1,137 crore under a government-to-government (G2G) agreement," the BPC chairman said.
"The imported diesel will be supplied to the northern part of the country," he added.
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He said the proposal has already received approval from the Economic Affairs Committee and now awaits final approval from the Advisers' Council Committee on Government Purchase.
Ahsan said the BPC board of directors meeting on Sunday proposed the diesel import for the January to December period this year, and also suggested that the fuel be transported via the 131.57-kilometre cross-border India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFP).
Of the 131.57-kilometre, 5 kilometres are within Indian territory, while the remaining 126.57 kilometres run through Bangladesh. This includes 82 kilometres in Panchagarh, 35 kilometres in Dinajpur, and the rest spanning Nilphamari and Rangpur.
BPC officials said the whole consignment of the fuel would come through the cross-border pipeline from India's Numaligarh refinery located in Golaghat in its north-eastern Assam state.
Bangladesh will receive the diesel at Parbatipur petroleum fuel depot in northwestern Dinajpur for distribution in specific destinations.
The friendship pipeline was constructed as part Bangladesh-India energy cooperation to especially to import diesel from India. Diesel is the highest volume of petroleum which Bangladesh imports from abroad.
Every year Bangladesh imports about 54 lakh tonnes of crude and refined petroleum products.
The BPC's demand for refined fuel oil is around 74 lakh tonnes, of which 46 lakh tonnes is diesel.
The officials said around 80% of the diesel is imported, with domestic refineries supplying only 20% of the total demand.
