Padma Oil to supply jet fuel to Cox’s Bazar airport

From now on, state-owned fuel distributor Padma Oil Company will supply jet fuel to Cox's Bazar airport.

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, the company said it had signed an agreement with the Standard Asiatic Oil Company, which is now supplying jet fuel to aeroplanes, to transfer the responsibility of operating the Cox's Bazar aviation depot.

Standard Asiatic Oil Company is a subsidiary of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) with a holding of 50% shares in the company.

Noman Ahmed Taffader, company secretary of Padma Oil, told The Business Standard, "From now on, Padma Oil Company will supply jet fuel to the Cox's Bazar Airport."

"The government has taken a project to build a fuel oil depot in Cox's Bazar, after the project is completed, the aircraft going to Cox's Bazar from Dhaka will be able to take oil. But until the project is completed, the oil will go to Cox's Bazar from the Dhaka airport," he added.

Noman Ahmed Taffader said that when the construction of the depot is completed, aeroplanes will take the amount of fuel from the Dhaka airport needed to go to Cox's Bazar. When returning to Dhaka, the required amount of fuel will be taken at Cox's Bazar airport.

"As a result, the load on the aircraft will be reduced, thereby allowing more passengers to be carried," he added.

Established in 1965, Standard Asiatic Oil Company was the first lube oil blending plant in the private sector, according to the company's website.

Standard Asiatic Oil Company was a 50:50 equity joint venture between Asiatic Industries Ltd, a private limited company and Esso Eastern Inc of the USA in the port city of Chattogram.

After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Esso left Bangladesh and all rights, obligations, and shares of Esso were acquired by the Government of Bangladesh and subsequently vested to BPC.

Hence, the Asiatic Industries Ltd owns the other 50% shares in Standard Asiatic Oil Co Ltd.