BPC to import $1.5b petroleum products by Dec

A cabinet panel yesterday approved purchase of petroleum products worth $1.5 billion (Tk 12,480 crore) for the July-December period of this year.
Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will purchase 13.56 lakh tonnes of diesel, 1.90 lakh tonnes of jet oil, 40,000 tonnes of kerosene and 64,000 tonnes of octane for the period, said Nurul Karim, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division.
He said the estimated demand for the period is: diesel 16.95 lakh tonnes, kerosene 1.87 lakh tonnes, jet oil 1.85 lakh tonnes and octane at 57,000 tonnes.
Of the total demand, the state-owned Eastern Refinery Ltd will supply 1.80 lakh tonnes each of diesel and kerosene, Karim said after a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchases, chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the secretariat in Dhaka.
The committee also approved the Mongla port dredging project worth Tk 126.51 crore and import of 3.90 lakh tonnes of Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertiliser from Belarus at a cost of Tk 89 crore.
The government will purchase the petroleum products from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Petronas Trading Corporation of Malaysia, Petrochina International (Singapore) Pte, Ltd, PNOC Exploration Corporation of the Philippines, Middle East Oil Refinery Limited of Egypt and Emirates National Oil Company, Karim said.