Stalemate over oil import from India
Sunday, 16 December 2007
Jasim Uddin Haroon
The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) ended last week its negotiations with the Indian Oil Company (IOC) inconclusively over the purchase 100,000 tonnes fuel oils annually from the latter through river route.
The BPC officials said the IOC would sit again some time next month after further examinations of the proposals made by the IOC.
"We failed to reach an agreement as the IOC was insisting on a premium of US$ 6.0 each barrel," Syed Mozammel Hoque, director (operation) of the BPC told the FE.
BPC officials said the IOC officered $ 6.0 premium for each barrel of oil in the meeting held December 11-12 at the BPC liaison office in the city.
Earlier, the IOC offered to Bangladesh to supply fuel oils through river route upto Doulatpur in Khulna from Haldia port in Kolkata.
A BPC high level delegation paid a visit to the Indian capital, New Delhi, in August last to discuss the oil purchase issue.
BPC officials, however, said they would not be able to purchase the fuel at premium of $ 6.0 as they had an existing deal with another Indian state oil exploration company to purchase 120,000 tonnes diesel annually at a premium of $ 5.49 a barrel.
They also said BPC has a deal with the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), an Indian oil company, and the latter will also send fuel through river route upto Baghabari from its plant in Assam, which is 200 kilometres away from Doulatpur.
The BPC wants to purchase fuel from India through river route since carrying fuel from Chittagong becomes difficult during winter due to poor navigability of rivers.
The demand for diesel during winter in the Khulna belt is around 50,000 tonnes each month.
Earlier, the BPC imported 200,000 metric tonnes of diesel from the IOC in the year 2006 through sea route which usually takes a longer time.
The BPC imports about 3.8 million tonnes of fuel annually and bulk of the same comes from Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates.
The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) ended last week its negotiations with the Indian Oil Company (IOC) inconclusively over the purchase 100,000 tonnes fuel oils annually from the latter through river route.
The BPC officials said the IOC would sit again some time next month after further examinations of the proposals made by the IOC.
"We failed to reach an agreement as the IOC was insisting on a premium of US$ 6.0 each barrel," Syed Mozammel Hoque, director (operation) of the BPC told the FE.
BPC officials said the IOC officered $ 6.0 premium for each barrel of oil in the meeting held December 11-12 at the BPC liaison office in the city.
Earlier, the IOC offered to Bangladesh to supply fuel oils through river route upto Doulatpur in Khulna from Haldia port in Kolkata.
A BPC high level delegation paid a visit to the Indian capital, New Delhi, in August last to discuss the oil purchase issue.
BPC officials, however, said they would not be able to purchase the fuel at premium of $ 6.0 as they had an existing deal with another Indian state oil exploration company to purchase 120,000 tonnes diesel annually at a premium of $ 5.49 a barrel.
They also said BPC has a deal with the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), an Indian oil company, and the latter will also send fuel through river route upto Baghabari from its plant in Assam, which is 200 kilometres away from Doulatpur.
The BPC wants to purchase fuel from India through river route since carrying fuel from Chittagong becomes difficult during winter due to poor navigability of rivers.
The demand for diesel during winter in the Khulna belt is around 50,000 tonnes each month.
Earlier, the BPC imported 200,000 metric tonnes of diesel from the IOC in the year 2006 through sea route which usually takes a longer time.
The BPC imports about 3.8 million tonnes of fuel annually and bulk of the same comes from Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates.