State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) plans to import around 5.80 million tonnes of petroleum products next year, up 7.50 per cent from the current calendar year at a cost of around US$ 5.0 billion, a senior BPC official said.
The quantity of petroleum products includes both refined and crude oil, he added.
Of the total requirement it has finalised contracts to import around 3.60 million tonnes of refined petroleum products from nine different suppliers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for consumption in 2015, he said.
Of the imported refined oil products, BPC will import around 1.0 million tonnes of 0.25 per cent sulfur diesel and 1.40 million tonnes of 0.05 per cent sulfur diesel, 850,000 tonnes 180 centistokes (CST) high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) with 3.5 per cent sulfur content, 320,000 tonnes A-1 jet fuel, 25,000 tonnes octane and 5,000 tonnes of kerosene, he said.
BPC has decided to continue import around 1.0 million tonnes of 0.25 per cent diesel from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) until 2016 due to supply constraints of the Kuwaiti firm.
KPC has informed BPC of its inability to supply 0.05 per cent sulfur diesel from 2015 to BPC, said the BPC official.
KPC will require installing some additional equipment in the existing refinery to supply less sulfur diesel, he said.
BPC will, however, import 500 ppm sulfur gasoil from other suppliers from day one of 2015 in line with its previous decision, he added.
"We have decided to continue gasoil with higher sulfur contents from the KPC considering the firm's inability to supply the required quantity of gasoil with 0.05% sulfuf content," BPC Chairman Md Eunusur Rahman told the FE.
BPC has negotiated deals with KPC, Petco, the trading arm of Malaysia's Petronas, Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), the Philippines National Oil Company (PNOC), PetroChina, Unipec Singapore Ltd, Vietnam's Petrolimex, Indonesia's PT Bumi Siak Pusako and Brunei's PB Trading.
The BPC official did not say about the quantity of petroleum products to be imported from the suppliers.
He said the BPC has negotiated the premium at lower rates from the July-December 2014 rates.
BPC will import 0.25 per cent sulfur diesel gasoil at a premium of $4.50 per barrel to Mean of Platts Arab Gulf (MOPAG) assessments for gasoil during January-June 2015 period, down from $4.80 per barrel of July-December 2014.
It will import 0.05 per cent diesel at a premium of $4.60 per barrel to MOPAG assessments for gasoil during January-June 2015 period.
The premium for HSFO imports has been negotiated at $29.5 per tonne over MOPAG assessments for HSFO, down by $4.5 per tonne over MOPAG being paid in July-December, 2014.
The premium for A-1 jet fuel has been set at $5.50 per barrel over MOPAG assessments for jet fuel for Jan-June 2015, down from $5.80 per barrel over Jul-Dec 2014.
For kerosene, the premium has been fixed at $5.50 per barrel over MOPAG assessments for superior quality, down from $5.80 per barrel over Jul-Dec 2014.
BPC could save around Tk 650 million due to the lower rate of premium, said the BPC official. As per the negotiation with the suppliers, BPC will be able to import more petroleum products, if necessary, he said.
BPC will inform the outcome of the negotiation to the cabinet committee on government purchase for final nod, he said.
The cabinet committee usually endorses BPC's every negotiation to import petroleum products considering its urgency to meet domestic demands.
It also expects to import around 1.40 million tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company during 2015.
BPC has been importing an estimated 5.40 million tonnes of petroleum products in the current calendar year at an estimated cost of $5.0 billion.
BPC's oil imports have been increasing steadily over the past several years in order to meet rising demand, especially for oil-fired power plants. Amid fast-depleting natural gas resources, the government in 2010 launched a drive for more oil-based power plants and nearly three-dozen of those plants have already been installed.
The new oil-fired power plants alone require around 2.0 million tonnes of oil products -- around 1.2 million tonnes of HSFO and 800,000 tonne of diesel -- to generate electricity, said the BPC official.
azizjst@yahoo.com
