Country's private fuel tank terminal owners are eyeing brisk business following the government decision allowing private sector to import furnace oil, industry insiders said.
They have already increased the petroleum product storage capacity and rented out their tanks to the oil-fired power plant sponsors to facilitate electricity generation.
"We rented out all of our tanks to power plant sponsors in private sector," Managing Director Omera Fuels Ltd, Asif Malik told the FE Sunday.
A sister concern of MJL Bangladesh Ltd, Omera, has a total of 70,000 tonnes fuel oil storage capacity, he said.
Leading private sector power generation company Summit Group took 50,000 tonne fuel oil storage capacity on rent, while Accron Infrastructure Services Ltd for 20,000 tonne capacity, he said.
Omera started commercial operation of its fuel tank terminal in August 2013.
It has been charging Tk 300 per tonne as monthly rental fee from the power plant sponsors, said Mr Malik.
Another privately owned fuel tank terminal-South East Tank Terminal (SETT) -- has already rented out a portion of its storage capacity to the privately owned oil-fired power plant sponsors, said a SETT top official.
SETT has a total of 100,000 tonnes storage capacity, of which 50,000 tonne would be dedicated for fuel oil storage facility and the remaining 50,000 tonne for edible oil storage facility, said Mostafizur Rahman Jinnah of the SETT.
Orion Group, Confidence, Sinha Group and Otobi are some of the oil-fired power plants that are in contact with SETT to hire fuel oil storage tanks.
"Currently we are charging below Tk 200 per tonne per month as rental fee from the power plant sponsors, said Mr Jinnah.
SETT would increase the rental charge soon, he said.
The total fuel oil storage capacity of Omer and SETT is enough to meet fuel oil import of around 1.20 million tonnes per year, said an industry insider.
Seeing the robust demand of fuel storage tanks from the privately owned oil fired power plants, some owners of edible oil storage tanks are planning to convert their tanks to fuel oil storage tanks, said sources.
Meghna Group is one of them, they said.
Sources said the private sector has started constructing fuel oil storage tanks following a decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in January 2012 to allow private power companies to import fuel oil.
The government has already allowed a dozen of privately owned oil-fired power plants to import around 800,000 tonnes of furnace oil annually to generate electricity in their plants.
It has allowed some sponsors to import 50 per cent of their furnace oil requirements, a senior official of state-owned Bangladesh petroleum Corporation (BPC) said.
The state-owned BPC has provided no objection certificate (NOC) to import half of the total HSFO requirements to these power plants firms to facilitate HSFO imports.
The furnace oil-fired power plants that obtained NOCs are owned by Summit Narayanganj Power Plant, IEL Consortium and Associates Ltd, Khulna Power Company Ltd, unit 1 and 2, Dutch Bangla Power and Associates Ltd, Digital Power and Associates Ltd, ECPV Chittagong Ltd, Baraka Patenga Power Ltd, Accron Infrastructure Services Ltd, Summit Barisal Power Ltd, ECPV Chittagong Ltd, Khan Jahan Ali Power Compant Ltd, and Sinha Peoples Energy Ltd.
These firms would not be allowed to sell its imported furnace oil in open market and would be required to submit import details to BPC and state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) as per the condition of allowing them furnace oil imports, said a senior energy ministry official.
The Energy Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources last month took the decision to allow privately-owned oil-fired power plants to independently import their high sulfur fuel oil as per requirements, instead of going through state-owned BPC for NOC.
The energy ministry is now working to amend Bangladesh Petroleum Act 1974, Bangladesh Petroleum Ordinance 1976 and Bangladesh Petroleum Rules 1976, to rescind the provision of providing NOC to private sector by BPC for import of HSFO, he said.
Under the existing regulations, privately-owned power plants have been receiving their furnace oil via BPC or have obtained a NOC from BPC before directly importing their fuel oil.
BPC usually provides the NOC on yearly basis.
After the amendment to the concerned regulations, the private sector would not need to request for an NOC, the official said.
Currently, 38 oil-fired power plants are operational across the country in both public and private sectors.
Fuel tank terminal owners preparing for brisk business
M Azizur Rahman | Published: June 24, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
Share if you like