Bangladesh has begun importing cleaner diesel with less sulphur contents to ensure a better environment by way of averting pollution, a top official said Saturday.
However, Kuwait, a major supplier of the petroleum fuel, is going to miss the January 2015 timeline on the excuse of necessary changes to its refinery.
The first consignment of 0.05 per cent sulphur-content diesel reached country's main seaport in Chittagong on January 5 with 20,000 tonnes of diesel from the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), a senior BPC official told the FE.
He said the second cargo ship carrying similar quantity of gasoil with the same sulphur content will reach Chittagong seaport next week from Petco, the trading arm of Malaysia's Petronas.
The BPC earlier used to import only 0.25 per cent sulphur-containing diesel to meet country's mounting demand in transport sector, power plants, irrigation and in industries.
BPC started importing the cleaner fuel this month in line with instructions from the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
All international diesel suppliers excepting Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) have confirmed the BPC that they will start providing 0.05 per cent sulphur-content diesel, also known as 500ppm- sulphur diesel, instead of 0.25 per cent sulfur diesel, from January 2015 to help cut pollution.
But KPC, which has been supplying around 1.0 million tonnes of 0.25 per cent sulphur-content diesel over the past several years, said it was unable to supply this grade from January 2015.
"The Kuwaiti firm has planned to supply the 500ppm diesel from January next year," said the BPC official.
KPC earlier had said it had been supplying 0.25 per cent sulphur-content diesel from its own refinery and to meet the new Bangladeshi requirements it would need to make changes to the refinery, which would take time.
He said although KPC produces 500-ppm gasoil from its refinery, the output is bound for other countries under long-term contracts.
BPC is the country's sole importer of diesel and has term deals with KPC, Petco, PNOC, Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), PetroChina, Indonesia's Bumi Siak Pusako, Vietnam's Petrolimex, and Unipec Singapore and new supplier Turkish Petroleum International Company.
It currently imports around 3.0 million to 3.5 million tonnes of diesel every year to meet the domestic demand.
BPC has estimated that importing the lower-sulphur gasoil might lead to higher import costs of around 40 US cents -60 US cents per barrel.
Apart from diesel, BPC also imports 180 CST high-sulphur fuel oil, A-1 jet fuel, 95 RON gasoline and superior kerosene as refined petroleum products.
azizjst@yahoo.com
Import of cleaner diesel with low sulphur begins
M Azizur Rahman | Published: January 18, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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