A vessel carrying jet fuel has arrived at Chittagong Port from Singapore, while two more ships with a combined 68,000 tons of diesel are expected to arrive later tonight.
The vessel MT Great Princess entered the port jetty at 8:00am on Tuesday, carrying about 12,000 tonnes of jet fuel supplied by Indian Oil Corporation Limited.
State-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) said that as of April 12, the country had around 22,000 tons of jet fuel in stock, enough to meet demand for approximately 15 days. The stock has increased further with the latest consignment.
Demand for jet fuel remains comparatively low. Between April 1 and 12, total sales stood at 21,000 tonnes, with a daily average of 1,758 tons. During the same period last year, the daily average was about 1,500 tons.
Meanwhile, two diesel-laden vessels are scheduled to arrive in Chattogram at around 11:00pm on Tuesday. The vessel MT Torm Damini is carrying about 33,000 tons of diesel supplied by Unipac Singapore Pte Ltd.
At the same time, MT Lucia Solis is bringing about 35,000 tons of diesel, supplied by Singapore-based Vitol Asia.
Diesel accounts for the largest share of fuel consumption in the country, making up about 63 percent, with heavy reliance across transport, agriculture, industry, and power generation sectors.
According to BPC data, total diesel demand in April is estimated at around 400,000 tons, with plans to bring in multiple consignments throughout the month to meet the requirement.
Earlier, on April 3, the vessel MT Yuan Jing He delivered 27,000 tons of diesel. On the same day at around 2:00am, another vessel, MT Shan Gang Fa Jian, brought an additional 34,000 tons. Officials believe the arrival of the two new vessels will ease supply pressure to some extent.
However, supply pressure has not fully eased relative to demand. From April 1 to 12, total diesel sales reached 133,000 tons, with a daily average of 11,138 tons.
Sources at BPC and the Energy Ministry said that as of April 12, available diesel stock stood at 119,000 tons, sufficient to meet demand for around 10 days. The addition of new consignments is expected to extend this by another four to five days.
BPC Chairman Rezanur Rahman said several vessels have already arrived, with more expected in the coming days. He added that alongside contracted suppliers, efforts are underway to import fuel from alternative sources, and there is no risk of a supply crisis this month.
