[ad_1]
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) faces difficulties in conserving fuel as demand for fuel in the country has decreased by approximately 50 percent due to the coronavirus effect. As a result, the state company plans to keep the oil in PCB pipes, private companies, and gasoline pumps.
BPC officials say that even though the price of fuel oil has dropped on the international market, Bangladesh will not be able to take advantage of it as there is not enough space for oil storage in the country. PCBs generally import light Arabian oil and marban from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
On April 23, the price of a barrel of Arabian light oil fell to 18.01 and the price of marban oil fell to .04 19.04 in the international market. That has decreased by 45 and 50 percent respectively in the last month.
According to the BPC, the BPC has around 9 lakh tons and 40,000 tons of fuel oil compared to its capacity of 9.5 lakh tons until last Wednesday. Due to limited oil storage by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (PCB), 140,000 metric tons of diesel and 20,000 metric tons of crude oil are trapped in 5 tankers outside the port. Another 4.5 lakh tons of fuel oil are awaiting import.
According to BPC’s marketing department, the country’s general vacation in the fight against coronavirus has reduced energy in industry, commerce, agriculture and transport by 50 percent. In April 2019, an average of 13,000 tons of diesel was used per day, but it has been reduced to 6,000 tons. On the other hand, the daily demand for jet fuel has dropped to 1239 metric tons, but it has dropped to just 61 tons. The demand for other fuels, such as gasoline, octane and kerosene, has also decreased significantly.
BPC secretary Kazi Mohammad Hassan told The Daily Star: “Over the past month, most factories have been transported to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As a result, the demand for fuel oil has decreased by approximately 75 percent during this period As a result, stocks have increased as BPC has been unable to trade fuel oil.
He said: PC BPC buys 50 percent through government-to-government and the remaining 50 percent through open bidding. The process started 6 months ago. Taking into account the country’s demand, an initiative was taken to buy an average of five lakh to six and a half metric tons of fuel oil per month.
BPC Director (Manager) Syed Mehdi Hasan said BPC has taken the initiative to overcome the crisis considering the current context.
“Stocks increased as fuel demand declined,” he said. To overcome this, an initiative has been taken to save these fuel oils at various private oil companies, power plants, and gasoline pumps. The amount of oil that can be stored in these places is being checked and selected. We have already had discussions with various oil companies. Hope this problem is resolved soon.
He added that “diesel represents around 70-75 percent of the country’s fuel demand.” Currently, diesel has a storage capacity of 6 lakh 28 thousand tons compared to the storage capacity of approximately 5 lakh 30 thousand tons. There are another 120,000 tons of oil in four tankers waiting to be offloaded.
BPC officials say four ships loaded with diesel and one ship loaded with crude oil have been waiting outside the port for more than a week due to a lack of fuel storage facilities. If the oil is not discharged from the imported tankers, BPC will have to pay an additional fine of around প্রায় 10,000 per day. Furthermore, for the same reason, around 45,000 tons of oil have been stored in various PCB tankers.
According to Chittagong Customs, from January to April 23 of this year, 6 lakh 79 thousand tons of diesel and 3 lakh 30 thousand tons of crude oil were imported. At the same time, last year, it was 10 lakh 71 thousand tons and 3 lakh 6 thousand tons, respectively.
