The government has planned to formulate a fresh policy to 'rationalise' the distribution of condensate to private petrochemical refineries.
The idea is to quell the refiners' grievance over limiting supply.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources has already initiated work on drafting the policy, said a senior division official.
The Energy Division also decided to continue supplying the fuel under the existing mechanism to privately-owned refineries until May 31, extending the previous date of May 15.
Condensate is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that exist as gaseous components in the raw natural gas.
The country's private petrochemical refiners have long been demanding higher allocation of condensate for their factories to ensure their smooth operation.
The Petrochemical and Refiners Association of Bangladesh (PRAB), the trade group, has been lobbying the government high-ups to renew their contracts of getting condensate supply for another five years.
Officials said currently, some 13 private refiners are operating across the country.
These refiners receive around 5,500 barrels per day of condensate combined.
The amount is around 52 per cent of the country's overall output of around 10,500 barrels daily from the state run natural gas fields.
The remaining condensate is being supplied to seven state-run refineries, known as fractionation plants.
A new state-owned fractionation plant is expected to be commissioned at Rashidpur in Sylhet by June.
Petrobangla had earlier suspended supplying condensate to six private refineries in July 2016 as they were found guilty of selling the product to petrol pumps illegally without refining.
The state-run corporation later resumed supply to six firms from June 2017, slapping several conditions meant to check their malpractice.
Officials said the sharp fall in demand of petrol in the country was the main reason for limiting supply of condensate to private firms.
Most of the private refineries are producing petrol after refining condensate.
Car and jeep owners now prefer the use of octane instead of petrol to keep their engines safe.
This has prompted the government to take the decision.
In consequence, state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation had to stop import of petrol several years ago.
The BPC started importing octane in 2017 instead as demand jumped sharply, a senior BPC official said.
Local refiners are currently providing around 160,000 -180,000 tonnes of petrol and 180,000-200,000 tonnes of octane to the local market.
Officials said that if the private refineries want to produce octane or other petroleum fuel they will have to go for substantial modification of their plants, which will be costly for them.
A top official at the BPC said that the organisation is now supplying 160,000-180,000 tonnes of petrol and 180,000-200,000 tonnes of octane to the local market.
He said although the consumption of petrol by cars and jeeps were declining, it was increasing day by day in case of motorcycles.
But once Petrobangla's plant in Rashidpur goes into production, it may affect the purchase of such product from the private refiners.
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