The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase has approved the proposal of importing fuel oil from 10 foreign companies to meet the country’s oil demand for the first half of the year.
The committee gave its nod to the proposal yesterday, placed by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, at a meeting that was presided over by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
Addressing reporters following the meeting, Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Mahfuzur Rahman said Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the country’s lone oil importer and distributor, will import 1.9 million tonnes of refined diesel, petroleum, kerosene, jet fuel and furnace oil at the cost of Tk7,523.23 crore for the period of January to June, aiming to cover the country’s total demand of 2.703 million tonnes of oil.
He furhter said the premium of the imported furnace oil, diesel, petroleum and kerosene would be reduced from the previous premium, which was set for the July-December period last year, owing to the sharp drop of oil price globally.
During the six-month period, the projected demand for the oils is 1,725,000 tonnes of diesel, 610,000 tonnes of furnace oil, 145,000 tonnes of kerosene, 160,000 tonnes of jet fuel, and 63,000 tonnes of petrol.
According to the proposal, the government will procure 30,000 tonnes of petroleum from Turkish Petroleum International Company under government-to-government purchase.
The other suppliers are Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, UAE-based Emirates National Oil Company, PT Bumi Siak Pusako of Indonesia, The Philippines’ PNOC Exploration Corporation, Petrochina International (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Brunei’s PB Trading Sendirian Berhad, Malaysia’s PETCO Trading Labuan Company Ltd, China’s Unipec Singapore Pte Ltd and Vietnam’s Petrolimex Singapore PTE Ltd.