Govt may need to import 1.2m tonnes more oil a year for running power units
Friday, 4 September 2009
M Azizur Rahman
The country will require ramping up annual fuel imports by at least 25 per cent to 4.85 million tonnes from the current 3.65 million tonnes within next two years to operate the planned diesel and furnace oil power plants, officials said Tuesday.
"We will have to import an additional 1.2 million tonnes of liquid fuel every year to ensure that the proposed power plants, to be installed on fast-track basis, run smoothly," Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Chairman Anwarul Karim told the FE Wednesday.
The power ministry is now on a 'war-footing' to ease the chronic power supply crunch and decided recently to install 17 diesel and furnace oil-run plants to generate a total of 1,330 megawatts (mw) of additional electricity.
The state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will invite bids next week from the private sector entrepreneurs both local and foreign for setting up the plants across the country.
The BPC top brass said the corporation is now working to facilitate importation of the additional quantity of fuel to implement the unprecedented move to raise electricity generation relying on the liquid fuel-fired plants.
He said storage capacity of the BPC and its subsidiary Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL) is being boosted to make room for the additional import of liquid fuel.
"We have decided to raise the BPC's fuel storage capacity by 20 per cent to 1.0 million tonnes from the current level of 800,000 tonnes," said Mr Karim.
He said a new fuel tank having a storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes would be cosntructed at Mongla sea-port in Khulna and another 30,000 tonne storage capacity tank would be built inside the main installation point of the corporation in Chittagong.
The storage capacity of the existing depots would be raised by 10,000 tonnes each to handle the additional fuel demands.
The ERL's furnace oil storage capacity would be ramped up to 70,000 tonnes from the current capacity of 55,000 tonnes, said the BPC chairman.
The country's lone refinery - the ERL - now can produce 300,000 tonnes of furnace oil annually to meet the local demands including generation of electricity from three liquid fuel-fired power plants.
But to meet the growing the demand the furnace oil to be produced from the ERL would not be sufficient, said the BPC top official.
"Along side the import of additional fuel the BPC would also facilitate transportation of the fuel through the state-owned oil marketing companies including Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum," said the PDB Member (generation) Tapan Kumar Chowdhury.
Sponsors of the power plants would also be asked to construct storage tanks at the plant sites to ensure smooth functioning of the liquied fuel-based power plants.
The country will require ramping up annual fuel imports by at least 25 per cent to 4.85 million tonnes from the current 3.65 million tonnes within next two years to operate the planned diesel and furnace oil power plants, officials said Tuesday.
"We will have to import an additional 1.2 million tonnes of liquid fuel every year to ensure that the proposed power plants, to be installed on fast-track basis, run smoothly," Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) Chairman Anwarul Karim told the FE Wednesday.
The power ministry is now on a 'war-footing' to ease the chronic power supply crunch and decided recently to install 17 diesel and furnace oil-run plants to generate a total of 1,330 megawatts (mw) of additional electricity.
The state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will invite bids next week from the private sector entrepreneurs both local and foreign for setting up the plants across the country.
The BPC top brass said the corporation is now working to facilitate importation of the additional quantity of fuel to implement the unprecedented move to raise electricity generation relying on the liquid fuel-fired plants.
He said storage capacity of the BPC and its subsidiary Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL) is being boosted to make room for the additional import of liquid fuel.
"We have decided to raise the BPC's fuel storage capacity by 20 per cent to 1.0 million tonnes from the current level of 800,000 tonnes," said Mr Karim.
He said a new fuel tank having a storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes would be cosntructed at Mongla sea-port in Khulna and another 30,000 tonne storage capacity tank would be built inside the main installation point of the corporation in Chittagong.
The storage capacity of the existing depots would be raised by 10,000 tonnes each to handle the additional fuel demands.
The ERL's furnace oil storage capacity would be ramped up to 70,000 tonnes from the current capacity of 55,000 tonnes, said the BPC chairman.
The country's lone refinery - the ERL - now can produce 300,000 tonnes of furnace oil annually to meet the local demands including generation of electricity from three liquid fuel-fired power plants.
But to meet the growing the demand the furnace oil to be produced from the ERL would not be sufficient, said the BPC top official.
"Along side the import of additional fuel the BPC would also facilitate transportation of the fuel through the state-owned oil marketing companies including Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum," said the PDB Member (generation) Tapan Kumar Chowdhury.
Sponsors of the power plants would also be asked to construct storage tanks at the plant sites to ensure smooth functioning of the liquied fuel-based power plants.