The Finance Division has asked Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) to adjust energy price in the local market to pay off Tk22,358 crore that it owes the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in years of unpaid duties and taxes.
In a summary that the Finance Division sent to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources last week, the finance authorities asked the state-owned company to make necessary arrangements to pay Tk4,500 crore as its first instalment of the dues.
The first instalment will also cover the unpaid supplementary duty (SD) and value-added tax (VAT) of Petrobangla and its six distribution companies accumulated in the period of February-October this year, it said.
The Finance Division proposed four recommendations to Petrobangla in order to pay the overdue taxes.
Besides the energy price – mainly the gas price – adjustment, the recommendations include an audit of Petrobangla's accounts, to be conducted by the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh.
The Finance Division also offered a Tk1,000-crore loan to the company to alleviate its financial troubles, but the load will not be provided until the completion of the audit.
In addition, Petrobangla funds will be adjusted in the revised budget of the 2016-17 fiscal year, according to the summary.
“It is not an easy task for the auditor general to audit the 18-year-old and complex account of Petrobangla,” the summary quoted Finance Minister AMA Muhith as saying. “We want to know how long it will take to implement the recommendations.”
According to sources in Petrobangla, the NBR claimed in 2015 that four gas distributing companies under the company – Titas, Jalalabad, Karnaphuli and Bakrabad – had dodged paying taxes amounting to Tk13,278 crore, which contributes to the total due of Tk22,358 crore.
The companies collected the taxes from customers from 2009 to 2015, but never paid it to the national exchequer, the NBR claimed.
However, a Petrobangla official said the companies did not pay the taxes due to a “misunderstanding”.
Petrobangla assumed that, under the Statutory Regulatory Order No 227, which the NBR issued in 1993, the gas distributing companies are exempted from paying taxes. But the NBR claims that the statutory order only exempts international oil companies (IOCs), which are engaged locally in producing and selling gas, oil and petroleum products to the government under partnership agreements, from paying the taxes.
“So according to the NBR, Petrobangla has to pay the taxes that were collected from the customers,” the official said, requesting not to be named.
However, Petrobangla already pays subsidy when it buys gas from the IOCs and sell it to customers.
Petrobangla buys gas from IOCs at Tk292 per 1,000 cubic metres, which include their income tax, but it sells the same volume of gas to the users at Tk176, including taxes. That means Petrobangla pays a subsidy of Tk126 for every 1,000 cubic metres of gas that is supplied to customers.
The summary said adjusting the energy price in the local market would also adjust the subsidy for Petrobangla's benefit.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division will be in charge of adjusting the energy price, the summary added.
According to the company website, the gross income of Petrobangla in the 2014-15 fiscal year from sales of gas, gas-derived liquids, coal and granite was around Tk28,075.86 crore.
After paying SD and VAT, the net income was around Tk25,314.85 crore. Gross expenses, comprising SD and VAT of around Tk2,761 crore and the cost of sales of around Tk21,935.61 crore, amounted to around Tk24,696.62 crore.
After paying the taxes and the dividend of around Tk891.78 crore, the net profit stood at Tk3,182.51 crore in 2014-15.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
