Aramco offers alternative shipping route

Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco has offered Bangladesh an alternative route to carry the stranded 100,000 tonnes of crude oil, avoiding the restricted Strait of Hormuz, say sources.
"Aramco intends to carry the stranded crude oil from the Ras Tanura port to Yanbu port through a 150km pipeline for shipment to Bangladesh via the shorter Red Sea to Bay of Bengal route," a senior official of state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) told The Financial Express Wednesday.
To carry the Saudi crude oil, Bangladesh would have to pay wheeling charge to the tune of around $0.53 per barrel, he said.
For carrying the entire 100,000 tonnes, the total wheeling charge would be around $400,000, he also said.
A Bangladesh-bound cargo vessel carrying around 100,000 tonnes of crude oil was now stranded at the Ras Tanura port after loading due to restrictions on the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, said the BPC official.
When contacted, BPC Chairman Md Rezanur Rahman acknowledged having such an offer from Aramco.
"We got the offer from Saudi Aramco but have not yet decided on it," he said.
State-run Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) usually carries crude oil for BPC to refine in the country's lone crude oil refinery Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL), BSC Managing Director Commodore Mahmudul Malek told the FE.
The BSC charters vessels to carry crude oil from two existing sources - Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), he said.
The stranded cargo at the Ras Tanura port was also chartered by BSC, said the official.
Officials said BPC imports around 1.40 million tonnes of crude oil annually for refining in its subsidiary ERL.
Saudi Aramco and ADNOC supply crude oil under separate term deals with BPC.
Of the total imported crude oil, BPC usually imports 700,000 tonnes of Arabian light crude from Saudi Aramco and 700,000 tonnes of Murban crude oil from ADNOC.
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), an autonomous entity within the Islamic Development Bank Group, is lending around $1.20 billion to BPC to import crude oil.
The installed capacity of ERL, established in 1968, is 1.50 million tonnes annually.
ERL mainly produces 0.005 per cent sulphur gasoil (diesel), 92 RON gasoline (petrol), 95 RON gasoline (octane), A-1 jet fuel, superior kerosene, liquefied natural gas (LPG), naphtha, and bitumen from crude oil.
It sells it in Bangladesh's local market through BPC's subsidiary marketing and distribution companies.

Azizjst@yahoo.com