Bangladesh’s refinery not capable of using Russian crude oil

Bangladesh's refinery is not technically capable of using Russian crude oil, said State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid.

He made the comment a day after Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that Bangladesh is not taking oil from Russia in fear of sanctions.

Nasrul Hamid had earlier said that Russia offered to sell crude oil to Bangladesh amid reduced demands from European countries.

Today, replying to a question in this regard, the energy state minister said, "We got offers from different sources, but we checked and found that our refinery is not technically capable of using Russian crude oil as it is designed for oil from Arab countries."

He attended a "meet the press" programme at Dhaka's Bidyut Bhaban on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the Bangladesh Power Development Board.

"Although the price of oil in the international market is fluctuating, there is no shortage of oil reserves at our end," he said.

Nasrul Hamid said, Bangladesh is buying oil as usual under the long-term G2G (government to government) agreements with countries including Saudi Arabia and UAE.